Fifteen Dollars An Hour
by RedAsARose
Summary: Conner and Kira are baby-sitting for Kira's little terror cousins, and an interesting topic of thought arises...
1. Chapter 1: Connor & Kira

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**Please.**

**Tis not mine!!**

**CHAPTER ONE: CONNOR AND KIRA**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6, 2004  
3:00

_DING-DONG_

_How did I get hear again?_ Connor thought to himself. _Oh yeah…_

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"You want me to WHAT?!"

Kira sighed.

"You're not deaf Connor," she said putting her hands on her hips and looking in the general direction of the ceiling.

"No, but you do want me to baby-sit _a_ deaf kid-which I refuse to do! I hate kids! Or at least baby-sitting them…especially when they speak a different language"

"It's still english, just…not." Kira replied. "Besides, they have a huge backyard and he totally rules at soccer. At least for a 9 year-old. And even i know that you don't need to talk to kick a ball back and forth with a 9 year-old. "

"NINE?! But that's even worse! Nine year-olds are such pests!"

"He's not a pest!"

"He's realated to you! As far as I'm concerned-he's a pest!"

"I am NOT a PEST!"

"Maybe not to Dr. O, but he's your teacher."

"_What_ the _heck_ is that supposed to mean?"

"You kinda sorta _have _to respect him. Me, on the other hand…"

"You what?"

"Well, I'm your friend-"

"Teammate-and nothing more!"

"-And friends don't have to respect eachother if they're at least being honest which is what friends are supposed to be and if I'm not your friend," he continued, spotting a way out of this, "then I don't have to go baby-sit your little cousins with you!"

Silence.

"Wait-what's that noise?" Said Ethan, who had just uncovered his ears.

"Me pondering what the loser tomato just said," Kira muttered, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I don't hear anything," Connor said, ignoring Kira _(I've only got two stripes of red on this shirt!) _and seriously contemplating what to do if Elsa broke through the roof above their heads.

"Exactly," Ethan said, tapping the air in Conner's direction, indicating he was right.

"And let's keep it that way…oh look," came Dr. O's voice from the doorway. "It's Connor McKnight's chapter 9 science test. And look whose is right behind his! Kira Ford's!"

Ethan snickered, but quickly stopped and looked down when Dr. O gave him a 'look'

"Are you black-mailing us, Dr. O?" asked Connor.

"YES!" Dr. Oliver screamed. Hayley jumped in her chair. "NOW SHUT UP!"

The three teens and their technical assistant stared at his retreating back.

"Wow," commented Hayley. "I haven't heard him yell like that since…actually, that was the first time."

"Anyway," Kira said after a minute. "Will you do it?"

Connor groaned.

"Why can't Trent? Count it as your date for the weekend."

"_McKnight_…"

"All right, all right! But I better be getting paid for this!"

"Don't worry," Kira sighed. "I talked to my uncle last night and he said he'd be more than happy to accommodate two people."

"Accommodate?"

"His word-not mine."

"Whatever. How much?"

She sighed. Again. And after rolling her eyes at the ceiling…"Fifteen an hour"

Ethan's handheld computer game clattered to the floor.

"Fifteen?" Connor practically whispered.

"Fifteen."

Ethan jumped up. "I'll do it!"

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_This is so not worth fifteen dollars an hour. Unless it was a lot of hours._ Connor was now thinking to himself, as 'Uncle Colin' explained when and how to feed the new baby and 'Auntie Kim' finished getting ready and Kira comforted the screaming baby in the next room and the 6 and 9 year olds pounded around upstairs.

_Probably killing eachother_. _And isn't Kira a little old to be calling people Auntie?_

"…So, we'll be back at about 12, they go to bed at 10 -but we're going to tell them 9 so it gives you an hour's leeway to wrestle and argue with them-10:30 at the absolute latest-Cormac's got a game tomorrow morning-and just watch TV for the rest of the night, raid the kitchen, steal what you want-wait… don't do that…"

_Three hours with sleeping kids? Ok, maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after a-HOLD ON! 12 AM?! That's like, 9 hours! What's that times fifteen? Ugh. Where's Ethan when you need him?_

"And what ever you do-Do. Not. Yell. At. Cormac. I know it sounds weird, but he obviously can't hear you and he'll only make it harder for you if he knows you two can't understand eachother. And he _will_ be able to tell from your face whether or not you're yelling…it's some weird deaf people thing…they have really good eyesight to compensate I guess…" He trailed off, lost in thought. "Well," he said suddenly, making Connor jump. "The number of the people's house is on the fridge along with cell phones and emergency numbers. Actually, if there is an emergency, just call 911. Honestly, I don't get why they always have you list 20 people's names and relation and day and nighttime phone numbers. If my son were to get mauled by a bear while on a field trip to the zoo, I'd want them to call 911-not open the fat binder and search alphabetically through all the kid's names and emergency contact forms looking for my next door neighbor's daytime phone number. And my next door neighbor travels through the city all day, so a hell of a lot of good that would do…"

_Wait…what?!_

"Language," came a woman's voice.

_Aah._ Connor thought. _Auntie Kim. Sure doesn't look like she had a baby 2 weeks ago. Must be one of those crazy diet and exercise things women are always on._

"I don't want our kids picking up any words like that or they'll end up like you," Mrs. Ford said. "Save it for the party when you're drunk and can't admit to sanely cursing."

_Well, there goes any hope that she's not like her slightly crazy husband. What the heck is 'admitting to sanely cursing' anyhow…sounds like admitting to some deadly crime. Actually, it is in my house…Aah! Concentrate! Wait-what about feeding them dinner???_

"…aha! Here it is," Mrs. Ford said, holding up a cut out article for a pizza place. "Cormac loves this place."

_Delivery pizza. I can do delivery pizza._

"Well, it think that's everything," said Kira from the doorway, holding a bundle of pink blanket.

_Bundle of blanket? Isn't it bundle of blankets? Cut it out McKnight! It's Friday night! Screw English class!_

"Oh-want us gone, do ya Kira?" teased Mr. Ford.

"Hey-don't torment the messenger!" Kira said, tilting her head, indicating behind them.

Suddenly, something hit Connor on the back of the head. He spun around to see a short boy standing behind him, a soccer ball rolling away across the floor. He had the palms of his hands together in front of his chest and he was looking at the ceiling with a slight smile on his face.

"Well aren't you a little angel?" Conner muttered. "Pun intended."

_Seriously, who names their kid 'Cormac Angel'. Totally a girl's name. He's going to be bullied once the kids at school find out._

The boy-Cormac-laughed and pointed at him. At least, Connor thought it was a laugh. It was more like an enthusiastic grunt.

_And can't he, like, not hear me?_

"So when do we call Harry Potter?" Connor muttered, walking up to Kira as his parents talked and at the same time 'talked' to their son. "'Cause I don't speak troll…"

Kira hit him.

"Ow! Hold the baby! Sheesh"

"She's 13 days old-not that heavy," replied Kira, slightly readjusting the blanket. _Blankets. Whatever!!! You know, I should get extra credit in English for this!_

"And why are they talking at the same time?"

"So he has a better understanding of what they're saying," Kira replied patiently. She knew there were going to be more questions like this as the night progressed. And not all of those questions were going to be as reasonable as this one.

_Next he'll probably be asking what's with the lumpy beige thing on the side of his head,_ she thought.

"And why is his ear so lumpy? Is that why he's deaf?"

_Who called it! Sorta called it anyway._

Kira decided to prolong her answer to really make him look stupid. She enjoyed the effect of that.

So she stared at him, with her eyebrow raised and her mouth hanging slightly open.

"What?"

"That's his hearing aid you bonehead."

"Oh. I knew that."

"Yeah, after I told you."

"I never said when I knew," Connor said slyly.

Kira stared at him again, but this time it was for real. Connor recognized that he had made a point. He smiled and looked toward the silent speakers.

_I can't believe I just got had by Connor McKnight. I should probably keep an eye out for flying pigs tonight. No, cuz if pigs are flying then that means Trent wouldn't have that whole evil half thing going on and we could be a normal teenage couple. Wait…that's a good thing…sorta. Dr. O would also kill me. But he had a girlfriend after he was evil. Yeah, and look how great that tuned out Kira-she broke his heart. But neither of us are gymnasts, so that's not exactly gonna happen. But it could happen after my first world tour. And I am actually having a conversation with myself…I blame you Trent! Yeah, cuz he can hear me. KIRA! STOP! Okay, fine._

"Kira! Your tios are leaving!" Connor's voice snapped her back to reality.

"My what?"

Connor sighed. "Your aunt and uncle. Honestly, don't tell me I just showed you up twice in a row- and once in a foreign language! Thank you very much!" He gave a slight bow toward a make-believe audience in front of the refrigerator. Little Cormac stared at his madman baby-sitter his favorite cousin found for him. Soon to be EX favorite cousin if this guy was as much of a clown as he appeared.

"And exactly what foreign language was that?"

"Huh? Oh…uh, Spanish. Spanish? Yeah-Spanish!"

Kira shook her head. "You are so dumb." She walked toward the exit of the kitchen and Cormac followed her, while Connor pondered what exactly what he was so dumb about. She turned the corner, then turned around and stuck her head back in "And I'm in French."

_Score one for the normal baby-sitter,_ she thought, as she reassured her tios_-whatever those are…-_that she remembered enough sign language to ask her favorite cousin Cormac what kind of pizza he wanted._ If I forget how to say 'junk', at least I know the alphabet. Probably should've taught that to Connor the tomato…nah. It'll be funny if he tries to yell…_


	2. Chapter 2: Kira & Connor

_Italics are Kira thinking_. **Bold is Connor thinking****. **

**CHAPTER 2: KIRA AND CONNOR**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6, 2004  
10:00

"Kira, are you absolutely positive that everything's ok?"

"For the fourth time, yes Dr. O, everything's fine."

Everything was, in face, far from fine.

"Well, I'm fine at least," Kira said. She lifted her shoulder to hold the phone to her ear while she mixed the macaroni and cheese and poured the hot chocolate at the same time. _I guess experience baby-sitting two little devils really teaches one to multi-task._

"Connor is in a bit of a, um, _jam_…but I'm sure Cora will unlock the closet eventually!" Kira ended cheerfully.

Dr. O was silent.

"He let himself get locked in a closet?"

"Long story short…yeah, he did," she replied, bringing the tray of marshmallows to the living room. "Hey, I better go Dr. O. Cora just put her boom box in front of the door and it's blasting The Cheetah Girls."

"Huh. How nice of you to think of Connor's sanity in his time of desperation."

"Connor?" Kira asked while walking to the front hall. "Who said anything about Connor? Red got _locked in a closet_ by a 6 year-old. I just don't want the baby to wake up." She leaned down to shut off the CD, but gave Cora a big smile and a thumbs-up to let her know she's doing a great job, then walked back to the living room. "Call us if something comes up!"

"All right. But Kira-"

Before he could say anymore, she hung up. Dr. O pocketed his cell phone and looked up at the computer screen he was working at. "She let him get locked in a closet?"

"Food!" Kira announced in the general direction of where the kids were 'playing'.

"Food's ready," she heard Cora say to her deaf brother, and then they were thundering into the living room.

"Hey-guys! Let me out, then we can _all_ go eat," Connor's muffled voice said. "Guys?" He pounded on the door, although that hadn't done anything in the last 5 minutes, but he was hungry!

"Hey! Let me out! This isn't funny anymore!" He paused a second to ponder what he just said. "Actually, it was never funny, but that's not the point! Open this door right now!" He stomped his foot at those last 2 words**. Deaf people feel vibrations or something, don't they? Like bats. This house is probably as big as Bruce Wayne's is, so why can't Uncle C be Batman?** "Cora? Are you there? KIRA! A LITTLE COUSIN INTERVENTION WOULD BE REALLY NICE RIGHT ABOUT NOW!" **Or even DareDevil. He could see vibrations or whatever.**

"I'm hungry and after this experience I am never going to get my grandma's coat for her ever again!" **Now that I think about it, Uncle C does kind of look like Ben Affleck**. He silently counted to ten before bringing out the big guns.

"KIRA! I AM NOW OFFICIALLY CLOSTERPHOBIC! And it's all YOUR FAULT! How am I supposed to fight Mesogog like this? If Elsa were to _pin me against the wall_ I would probably have a panic attack! Being morphed and enclosed might protect me from the wrath of Zeltrax, but not from-!"

But from what else, Kira will never know, because she yanked open the door at that point to shut up the big red oaf. That did shut him up, but he also stumbled into her arms.

"Kira!" He held her shoulders at arms length, then engulfed her in a hug.

"_Connor_…" she warned.

"I almost thought I was going to die in there! You seriously claim to be _related_ to those two?!"

"Connor!" Kira hissed.

**Whoa…I thought only Mesogog could do that…**

"What?" He replied, stepping back with his hands still on her shoulders, clearly aggravated she was interrupting his rant.

She gripped his elbows.

"Those two want to say something."

Both of their heads turned to see the two kids standing there, but not in the apologetic manner both the rangers had expected.

Cora looked like she just walked into the front door. The very big front door. Her mouth was hanging slightly open, and she was looking back and forth between the two teenagers. Cormac just looked horrified. They all stared at each other a moment or two, then…

"GED OFF MY COUTHIN!"

And he charged.


	3. Chapter 3: Kira

_Italics are Kira thinking_

**CHAPTER 3: KIRA**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
10:15

"You knew he played soccer."

"Yeah, but he's _nine_."

"_You_ kicked hard when _you_ were nine."

"Yeah, but I'm a Power Ranger."

"Not when you were nine!"

"Yeah, but it's been in my DNA all this time!"

"No, it's been in your Dino Gem all this time. It _picked_ your DNA." _And we still don't know why._

The two Rangers turned POW (Prisoners of Wretched-children) were sitting at the island counter in the kitchen. Connor had one leg on Kira's lap and she was trying to tape an ice pack to his knee, while he was rubbing his opposite thigh.

Kira unsuccessfully tried to suppress a laugh, and after a minute she was holding the counter top so she wouldn't fall over.

"What?!" Connor snapped.

"A nine year-old!" She gasped out. "Beat you up…Six year-old…_closet_!"

Connor was not laughing. He swung his leg down, and limped out of the kitchen.

_You gotta be kidding me…_

"Aw, Connor!" Kira called after him. "Come on, I didn't mean it! …Ok I did, but you're just too easy…I couldn't resist!" She hopped down off the stool, practically skipping after him. "Let's just forget about it, ok?"

He stopped dead and whirled around so quickly Kira ran into him.

"Forget?" Connor asked in a monotone voice, lifting his eyebrows. "No, Kira," He shook his head and placed his hands on her shoulders, so they were standing similar to as when he fell out of the closet, and speaking to her as if she were a child. "We will never 'forget'. It shall forever be ingrained into our humble little memories, and it will never cease to let us be. It will follow us to the grave, where it shall torment us into our post-life experiences. It is a curse that has no knowledge of the definition of 'humiliation'. It is a past that shall never erase itself from our personal lives' history."

_Wait, what?!_

"It is-"

"A closet," Kira cut in curtly. "Cope. And where did you learn those long words?"

He stared at her.

"School, Kira," he said slowly. He bent over so they were eye to eye, still talking as if explaining something to a child. "You should try it some time. An education these days is highly beneficial in the workforce."

"Workforce? You want to play soccer for the rest of your life!"

"Only till I'm 30," he shrugged. "And by then, I'll have enough dough that I can buy the team. And that's where the Business Major will come in handy."

"Business major? Wait-you're going to _college_?!"

"Well, yeah," he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Why? Aren't you?"

"Kira?…"

Kira looked to her right, Connor to his left, and saw Cora standing there. Kira had sent the kids to get ready for bed, not after Cormac went on his vengeance crusade against Connor's shins, but after the kids had decided to play 'War' in the living room. War pretty much consisted of throwing marshmallows at one baby-sitter, while the other was upstairs checking on the baby. In this case, Kira had left to check the baby, and Connor was left cowering in the corner.

Now Cora was standing in front of them, the same expression plastered on her face as before when she found her baby-sitters in this close proximity.

"Yes sweetie?" Kira wriggled her way away from Connor's tight grasps and walked over to kneel down in front of Cora.

"Umm…I'm ready to, to, um, to be…tucked in now."

She was playing with her nightgown and hugging a stuffed rabbit to her chest, like she was nervous, or scared of something that was about to happen.

_Very un-Cora like. Uh-oh. I wonder what Cormac's planning…_

"Excellent!" Connor said, clapping his hands together. "I'll go finish cleaning the hot chocolate off the wall, the macaroni off the couch, get the marshmallows out from behind the TV, throw out the broken vase, and you lock them in their rooms. Have fun!"

Cora looked up at Connor and put her fist on her hips. "You were the one who threw the macaroni you-you…big…bad, um…big, bad, red lump!"

_Oh yeah. This one's definitely a Ford Girl._

Kira stood up and took Cora's hand to lead her upstairs.

"Are you gonna take that Connor?" she teased over her shoulder.

"I didn't throw it, he jumped on me and it flew out of my hands!"

"Yeah. Sure it did. Or…he was annoying you and you threw it at him. The broom's in the cabinet next to the oven!" She called as she rounded the corner with her younger cousin in tow.

"'Cabinet next to the oven,'" Connor mimicked in a high-pitched voice. "Oh I'd like to do more than just sweep with that broom…"

"So, Cora," Kira spoke to her cousin as she wrapped the Barbie blankets around her. "What really happened with the macaroni?"

Cora was more than eager to retell the story.

"Well, Cormac was making faces and mimicking because Lumpy was trying to tell him to stop throwing marshmallows, so Lumpy put some mac'n'cheese on his spoon and he went-_whoosh_!" she mimicked her own impression of Connor throwing macaroni off of a spoon. "-But Cormac was ready for it, so he jumped out of the way, but he landed on Lumpy's foot, and that was when Lumpy spilled all the mac'n'cheese!" she finished gleefully.

The only thing Kira got out of that explanation was the naming of the 8th Dwarf.

"Um…Lumpy?"

"Yeah. Lumpy. Your boyfriend," she laughed. "He looked like a big lump when he was trying to hide in the corner when we were playing War with the marshmallows!"

"Ok, then. Lumpy it is. But Cora, you do know that it's not right to throw marshmallows and hot chocolate, right? I mean, tonight you have to go to bed before bedtime because you made a mess…and I have to tell your mommy and daddy. And you probably won't…wait. Did you say _boyfriend?!"_

"Well…yeah. Isn't Connor your boyfriend?" Cora asked innocently.

"NO!" Kira practically yelled. "I mean…no. No, he's not." She reached over and pushed a strand of blonde hair away from Cora's face. "Honey, Connor and I are just friends! We have the same classes and we…um…hang out…kind of…after school and we're teammates…but we're not boyfriend and girlfriend. What made you think that?"

"Oh. Well, you guys are always kissing whenever me and Cormac aren't around."

_What?_

"Trust me Cora, I have never kissed Connor McKnight in my life!"

_And I doubt I ever will._

Cora yawned. Kira decided to leave the room now and leave it at that, then handle it next time. She started backing out of the door when Cora spoke again.

"So, why are your faces always so close and he's always holding you…" Her voice trailed as her eyes drifted close. "That's what daddy always does when he…kisses…mommy…" Kira backed out and shut the door quietly.

She went to check on Cormac next, but he was already fast asleep, and snoring, so Kira let him be.

Then she made her way to the stairs, her mind racing of things she was about to yell at her brave red lump of a leader.


	4. Chapter 4: Connor

**CHAPTER 4: CONNOR**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
10:30

_That little brat!_

"Are you gonna take that Connor?" Kira teased over her shoulder.

"I didn't throw it, he jumped on me and it flew out of my hands!"

_Ok, not a complete lie…_

"Yeah. Sure it did. Or…he was annoying you and you threw it at him. The broom's in the cabinet next to the oven!" She called as she rounded the corner with her younger cousin in tow.

"'Cabinet next to the oven,'" Connor mimicked in a high-pitched voice. "Oh I'd like to do more than just sweep with that broom. And the mop. One in each hand so I could beat each of them at the same time." He rummaged through the cabinet next to the stove.

_And where the hell is the stupid broom?!_

"You know, it's not like I even wanted to do this," Connor said aloud, to no one. "I mean, Ethan was willing to give up 'Gaming Night'. Whatever that is. And if it weren't for stupid Trent being stupid evil then he'd be the stupid one here with the stupid children." He walked over to the oven and opened the cabinet door next to it.

"AH!"

The broom fell on top of him. The broom, and half the contents of the cabinet.

_Oops._

"Oh. Found it."

_Stupid stupid stupid. Wow Connor. You are such a moron. When are you finally going to learn to distinguish between stove and oven? It's not really that hard!_

He took the broom and went into the living room, using it to reach behind the TV and dig out the marshmallows.

"Stupid marshmallows. I don't even _like_ marshmallows but they still gotta chuck 'em at me! Stupid kids. Stupid Kira! It's not my fault all the other stupid sitters are scared of these stupid kids!" He began picking up pieces of macaroni and tossing them into the trash bag he had brought along. "I even knew these kids were horrors. I've heard the stories, but _noooooo_…I _had_ to take the job. Stupid fifteen dollars for 9 hours."

He kicked the trash bag. Hard. The bag ripped and it's contents-which included the macaroni from earlier in the evening, pieces of glass from the picture frame that broke, bits of crayons that had been stepped on and broken, plastic silverware the kids used to eat dinner that had been broken, and napkins and paper towels galore-spilled all over the floor that Connor had just finished cleaning.

"Damnit!"

_Agh! Sleeping baby! Stop being so loud_.

He bent down to clean the carpeted floor. Again.

_The last thing I really need right now is Kira killing me cuz I woke the baby_.

He paused.

_Does the baby even have a name? What do you do if you can't decide on a name for your kid before you leave the hospital? Wait-stop! Focus Connor! Clean. Carpet. Now. Maybe if you do a good enough job they'll even pay you double._

He stopped and thought about that for a moment. But his thoughts were cut off by the sound of Kira's boots in the hallway. He hastily dropped to the floor to pick up the little scraps of garbage that were now littered all over.

"Connor?" Came Kira's voice.

"Huh? Oh, right," he stood up so she could see him.

"What…are you doing?"

"Um…" he lifted the ripped trash bag. "It…ripped." He finished lamely.

She stared at him.

"You broke it?"

"I never said that!"

But Kira was still staring at him.

"What?"

_Do I have cheese on my face or something? Why is she looking at me like that? The last thing I really need right now is her beautiful eyes staring at me like that. WHOA! Beautiful eyes?! Did I just say that?!_

She sighed. "Just something Cora said. Never mind. Stupid kid stuff," she muttered. "I don't get what that girl sees," she kept muttering as she spun on her heel and went into the kitchen to get another bag.

But Connor was barely listening.

_Beautiful? Did I just say Kira has beautiful eyes? I mean, yeah, she's beautiful, but-dude! Now not only her eyes are beautiful but her entire being?! Snap out of it McKnight!_

"Yo! Snap out of it McKnight!"

_What the-?_

"Huh?"

"I said, why are the contents of the cabinet spilled all over the kitchen floor?"

"Oh. It fell."

Kira just looked at him.

"It fell?"

"Yeah. I opened the door and it all fell out on top of me. I'm fine by the way," he added, brushing past her. "Thanks for caring."

"Anytime!" She called after him. "And where are you going?"

He turned around at the back door.

"Would you like to walk to the end of the very long driveway and dispose of the trash?"

"Why, are you scared of the dark?" she replied.

"I didn't think so-I am not! Ok, you know what? Never mind. If I'm not back in 20 minutes call 911."

"What? Why?"

"That is one long ass driveway Kira. I wouldn't be surprised if there was someone hiding behind one of the bushes waiting to kill the unsuspecting baby sitter."

"Connor, the entire estate is fenced off."

He scoffed.

"_Estate_. Honestly. It's just a house."

_A house that has a driveway that takes 5 minutes to walk to and from the freaking garbage can…OK maybe it is an estate…_

"Don't get lost!" Kira yelled after him.

"Don't wake up the baby!" He retorted.

Most of the evening had consisted of Kira saying just that. Cormac thudded his soccer ball against the wall? Don't wake the baby. Cora dancing and singing along to Disney Channel? Don't wake the baby. Connor yelling at the kids to be quiet so they didn't wake the baby? Don't wake the baby.

He made his way down the path towards the driveway. He was still pondering why these noticings of Kira were suddenly coming to light in his head. He was so into thinking about Kira that he didn't notice he wasn't holding the trash bag anymore. He stopped walking.

"No way. You have got to be kidding me."

_The back door. I needed two hands to unlock and open the back door, and I put down the trash and didn't pick it up again. Brilliant Connor. Absolutely brilliant._

He pondered his next move. Go back and get it? Or just pretend he threw it out, then hide it and throw it away on their way out.

_You moron. You drove her here! I'm pretty sure she'll notice you carrying the big trash bag that you said hours before you had thrown out. Gah! What the hell._

He turned around and made his way back up the driveway to the path that led to the back door.

Stupid stupid stupid.

He got to the door, reached for the handle and gently pushed. But the bag wasn't where he left it. In fact, it wasn't even in plain sight.

"You forgot something," she stated, clearly knowing that he had messed up.

"Yeah whatever. So, where is it?" he mumbled, looking everywhere but at her.

"I was just throwing in some of the stuff from the cabinet that was on the floor. It was easier than pulling out an entire new bag." She picked it up and handed it to him. "Here."

"Thanks," he muttered taking it from her. He couldn't help but feel excited when her fingers brushed his. "Um, be right back."

"I have the PD on speed dial already."

He wasn't paying attention. "Yeah. Good for you."

And he walked out the door once again.


	5. Chapter 5: Kira

**CHAPTER 5: KIRA**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
10:35

"You forgot something."

_And messed up big time._

"Yeah whatever. So, where is it?" he mumbled, looking everywhere but at her.

"I was just throwing in some of the stuff from the cabinet that was on the floor. It was easier than pulling out an entire new bag." She picked it up and handed it to him. "Here."

"Thanks," he muttered taking it from her. "Um, be right back."

"I have the PD on speed dial already."

"Yeah. Good for you."

And he walked out the door. _Again._

_I have the PD on speed dial? What the heck? It's 911, how complicated could it be to dial a 9 a 1 and a 1? 'I have the PD on speed dial'…honestly…_

She turned around and surveyed the contents of the cabinet that had spilled across the kitchen floor.

"Screw this. He can do it."

She went back into the living room and plopped on the couch. _What to do what to do…TV? Movie? Video games? Hmm…think I'll just go with channel surfing._


	6. Chapter 6: Connor

**CHAPTER 6: CONNOR**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
10:50

_I don't like her._

_How can I like her?_

_She's freaking Kira!_

_I can't like Kira!_

_Besides, Kira likes Trent. And Trent likes Kira._

_Ok, more like Kira likes good Trent and good Trent likes Kira. Whatever. Same thing._

_And I don't like Kira._

He thought about how his skin tingled as their hands brushed when she handed him the trash bag.

_Ok…maybe I do like her…but I CAN'T like her! These things end in disaster! Friends don't date friends!_

15 minutes later, Connor was standing at the back door, debating the eternal dilemma: What To Do When You Discover You Have A Crush On Your Friend Of The Opposite Sex. (Or The Same Sex. Whichever Way You Roll.)

_Ok, so I can't like her…but what the hell am I supposed to do now? I can't go back in there! Humiliation city!_

Suddenly, his back pocket vibrated, and he jumped.

"Holy shit!" He fumbled with his hand in his pocket and finally retrieved his phone. "Hello? Hello?!" He looked at the display screen

YOU HAVE **1** UNREAD MESSAGES

"God dammit! Stupid stupid stupid!"

_Chill OUT McKnight. Text message. It's Friday night. Of course you're getting a text message. Everyone wants to know where you are._

Then he saw it was from Kira.

**Yo red just checking ure not dead**

_Just checking I'm not…what? Dead?_ He remembered their earlier conversation. _Oh-right! Dead! Ooooohhhhh…riiight…oops. All right time to suck it up McKnight._

He turned the doorknob and pushed.


	7. Chapter 7: Kira

**CHAPTER 7: KIRA**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
10:50

"You can remove 10 years from your face in just 4 weeks!"

_Because I totally want to look like a second grader._ Click.

"Take a few shots let it burn in your chest…funny how a few words turn into sex."

_Not tonight Justin_. Click.

"I won't let go Jack…I'll never let go…"

_Wait for it…wait for it…whoops-she let go_. Click.

"And we're heading to the fourth quarter with the suns trailing by five."

_Enh-I was always a Moons fan._ Click.

"As you wish!"

_Wasn't this on last weekend?_ Click.

"Paris holds the key to her past…"

_Ooh! This'll do!_

"Yes princess I've found you at last…no more pretend, she'll be gone…that's the end…"

Kira tossed the remote on the table in front of her and flopped back against the couch.

"Paris holds the key to your heart!"

_It's been a while…maybe I should make sure Connor didn't get ambushed_…

"You'll be tres jolie and so smart!"

She dug her phone out of her picket, flipped it open, and typed in a brief message before snapping is shut.

**Yo red just checking ure not dead.**

Just then she heard the back door open, close, and the lock click.

_Oh great he probably hasn't even gotten the message yet. I'm going to be hearing about this for months. It doesn't help I'm watching _Anastasia.

She grabbed the remote off the table and turned the TV off altogether.

_I'll just go check on the kids so it'll seem like I wouldn't know whether or not he was back. Oh yeah brilliant idea Kira-make up an excuse so he doesn't think you legitimately care._ She paused at the top of the stairs_. Wait-do I care?_ She shook her head and continued walking towards baby Cole's room. _Nah. I mean, yeah I CARE, but he's my friend!_ She quietly pushed his door open and creept towards the crib. _Friends are SUPPOSED to care! I'm sure he probably feels the same way. Wait a minute-this is my old crib…always wondered what happened to this thing after if finally disappeared from the basement._ She peered in to find Cole still sleeping soundly, then tip-toed as quietly as her boots would allow to the hall and onto Cora's room.

_It's like Ethan. I care for Ethan, but because he's my friend. Friends care for friends! Aw Cora…!_ She peeked into Cora's room and saw her clutching an oversized white rabbit and smiling slightly in her sleep. _If only the world could see you like this so they would know you're not a COMPLETE terror._

She stopped for a minute to think before moving onto Cormac's room_. I really hope Cora understood that we weren't kissing. Oh great. This is just great! _She opened Cormac's door. _What if she tells her parents tomorrow? What if they tell MY parents?!_ She closed the door after observing Cormac's empty bed_. I'm never going to live this down. Maybe she'll wake up thirsty and I could tell her again. Or maybe Cormac's snoring will wake her up! Yeah…it could happen! Cormac's snoring is ridiculous!_ Thoughts of a snoring Cormac made her remember something…something about Cormac sleeping…something about Cormac sleeping in bed…Cormac's _empty_ bed…

"Huh?"

She spun on her heel and quietly walked as fast as she could back to Cormac's room. She threw open the door and flipped the light on.

_God dammit!_


	8. Chapter 8: Connor

**CHAPTER 8: CONNOR**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
10:50

_Time to suck it up McKnight._

He turned the doorknob and pushed.

Nothing happened.

_You have GOT to be kidding me._

He tried again with the same results.

_No freaking way…I did NOT just lock myself out. I couldn't have! I had to come back to get the garbage bag! Unless Kira…nah. Kira wouldn't…_

…_would she?_

He hear a rustle behind him and spun around, but there was nothing there but a big tree with over-sized branches.

_Stop going crazy McKnight. Your phone, the wind…every little thing is setting you on edge._ He turned back to face the door that had apparently locked him out. _Ok-think. Can't ring the doorbell. Can't call the house. I could call Kira… _He reached for his phone_. Or…maybe not. I'd never hear the end of it. I could knock. I could climb through the open kitchen window. I could walk to the front door and stand there. I could…call Kira…_ He thought about it_. Alright, it's call Kira or stand here till she comes looking for me._

The branches on the tree rustled in the wind again. He subconsciously raised his hand to push back that one annoying strand of hair that always blew in his eyes when it was windy. But there was no strand of hair. _Hmm. That's weird. I'm not complaining though. It's so annoying when it's windy_. He then noticed that there was no wind. _Well, I guess that makes sense. No wind means no hair out of place. But then…what made the branches move?_ He slowly turned around. _Unless, the branches weren't what was moving…_

Suddenly, a figure sprung out from the shadow of the tree.

"Aaaaggghh!"


	9. Chapter 9: Kira

**CHAPTER 9: KIRA**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
10:55

Thoughts of a snoring Cormac made Kira remember something…something about Cormac sleeping…something about Cormac sleeping in bed…Cormac's empty bed…

"Huh?!"

She spun on her heel and quietly walked as fast as she could back to Cormac's room. She threw open the door and flipped the light on.

_God dammit!_

His bed was, in fact, empty.

She walked into the room to check if he was in his attached bathroom, but it was empty too.

_Oh_ not _good!_

She rushed out of the room just in time to see Cora tip toeing down the hallway towards the staircase.

_Well, that explains the smiling. She heard me coming and jumped back in bed._

"Stop," Kira said. Cora halted just outside of Cole's room. Kira dropped her voice to a whisper.

"Turn." Slowly, Cora turned to face her bigger cousin with a nervous look on her face.

"Walk." Cora hugged her stuffed rabbit closer as she took small, slow steps forward, all the time looking literally like a kid caught doing something they knew they shouldn't be doing. She came to a stop in front of Kira, who knelt down so they were eye-to-eye.

"Talk."

"Umm…"

Kira waited.

"Well…"Cora looked at her feet. "I…have to go potty…" She whispered meekly.

"The bathroom's the other way," Kira pointed out. "And you have your own."

"I…was…sleepwalking?" Cora tried again.

"Cora," Kira whispered slowly. "Where is your brother?"

"Oh, he's sleeping in his crib," Cora explained. Suddenly her face lit up and she smiled. "Well, actually, it's your crib, but we're borrowing it. You can have it back when Cole is in a big kid's bed!" She finished happily.

Kira continued to stare at her. Cora's smile faded.

"Oh. The other brother. He might be..I dunno…trying to scare Lumpy?"

"What?!" Kira hissed.

Cora just smiled innocently and shrugged_. I am so getting this kid an Oscar for Christmas._

"Bed. Now." Cora didn't need telling twice, as she scurried to her bedroom and Kira stood up and walked to the stairs. But they both stopped when they heard a yell. Kira turned to look at Cora, who quickly ducked into her room.

"It wasn't me!" was all Kira heard before the door swung softly shut.

_Aw hell-that girl will be lucky if she even makes it to Christmas!_

She then rushed downstairs and made her way towards the commotion, looking in each room as she went. She figured out it was coming from the back door area. _Oh crap Connor never texted me back!_ She got to the back door and saw two figures, one tall, one short, standing there. _What're they doing? Smoking cigars?! _She soon realized however that they were waiting for her to open the door, as it was locked. She flipped the lock and opened the door to see Connor with an intense look on his face, with his hand on little Cormac's head, apparently holding him in place. Oh dear.

"Kira," _Wow. His voice is surprisingly calm for a guy who looks majorly pissed off_. "Take the kid, and close and lock the door before I kill someone.

_He actually looks kind of cute right now…_


	10. Chapter 10: Connor

**CHAPTER 10: CONNOR**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
10:55

Connor slowly turned around. _Unless, the branches weren't what was moving in the wind…_

Suddenly, a figure sprang out from the shadow of the tree.

"Aaaaggghh!" it yelled.

"GAH!" Connor yelled back. _What the hell?!_ He then found himself fending off an attack of things being thrown at him. Roundish prickly things…pinecones.

The figure from the shadows danced in circles around him, all the while pelting pinecones. Connor quickly ran through a few scenarios. _Too short to be a monster. Too slow to be a monster_. A pinecone whacked him in the head. _Too freaking unconventional to be a monster. Unless…_

He stuck his arm out and grabbed the collar of the mysterious shadow figure, who dropped the remaining armful of pinecones.

"Hey!" he yelled out in protest as Connor pulled the Jason mask off his head, revealing Cormac. _Well, what do you know? It is a monster._

"Ow," Cormac complained as Connor grabbed his arm with one hand and placed his other on top of Cormac's head so he couldn't get away.

"Don't 'ow' me. You're the one who was chucking pinecones at my head a minute ago!" Cormac just stared up at him, obviously not understanding anything Connor was saying. "And stop looking at me like you don't understand English! I don't-oh." _Dang. He doesn't understand English._ "Alright fine. But this so isn't over buddy." He pulled him to the back door. "Oh look there's Kira. We'll just see what she has to say. You are so busted. And I'm talking to myself…" _Alrighty, now just wait for…what is she doing?_

From what he could tell from where he was standing on the dark doorstep, Kira was poking her head into every room of the long hallway before moving onto the next one. He stood there patiently while Cormac squirmed in his grasp. _Ok, well, while we're waiting for her to see the random people looming in the doorway, calm down McKnight. Deep breaths. The kid's totally got it coming to him._ Kira saw them then, and she unlocked and opened the door. At first, Connor thought she looked as though she was expecting them, but her lips pursed and her eyebrows knitted together after looking at Connor's face.

_Hmm. Wonder what's bugging her. Now remember, calm._

"Kira, take the kid and close and lock the door before I kill someone."

_You know, she looks kinda cute right about now…_


	11. Chapter 11: Ethan & Tommy

**CHAPTER 11: ETHAN AND TOMMY**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:00

_Buzz buzz_

"Are we done yet?"

"Ethan, we've only been at this for 20 minutes."

"What?! No way. Your timescale is off man."

"Ah! Timescale-very good! We'll talk about that next!"

"Ooh! Can I start us off?!"

"That's the spirit Ethan! Go ahead!"

"Are you aware that you were late to class four times this week?"

"Very funny. Not _my_ timescale-"

"More like your _lack_ of a timescale…"

"I heard that. I meant the Geologic Time Scale."

"There's a timescale for rocks?"

"Of course there is. How do you think we've dated fossils?"

"You mean, you didn't just call the Time Force Rangers and get them to zap you back in time to see who was kicking it every couple million years?"

_Buzz buzz_

"Ethan…"

"Kidding Dr. O…only joking. Geez. You need to lighten up."

"Says the boy on the verge of failing science."

"Touche. Ok, let's rock this stuff. Ha ha get it? Let's 'rock' this? Eh?"

"Oh my god…Alright, so the Geologic Time Scale was developed in…?"

"We talking Relative or Absolute?"

"Good observation! We'll start with Relative Geologic Time. It was gradually developed in the…?"

"19th century?"

"Correct! And relative order is determined at many sites, which relate to each other by…?"

"Umm…do they have the same great grandparents?"

"…I wouldn't know…"

"Wait-rocks have _grandparents?!_"

"Well…in absolute dating and radioactive decay there are parent and daughter _isotopes_…"

_Buzz buzz_

"Whoa Dr. O, slow down. I'm still trying to wrap my head around Relatives having grandparents, and now you tell me Absolutes have whole growing _families_?!"

"Ethan, do you _sleep_ through class?"

"Usually. I mean-no! I mean-Connor does too!"

"_Connor_ is getting a B. As is Kira. _Trent_ is even getting an _A_, and the battles against him are 3 on 1! How is it that the evil one with 66% _more_ of a disadvantage manages to be on time, stay awake, and have the second highest grade in the class?!"

"Really? Who has the highest grade?"

_Buzz buzz_.

"Hmm? Oh, uh…Devon."

"_Devon_?!"

"Last I checked."

"Really…who would've guessed…"

"Yeah, well, anyway…uh…"

"…The geologic timescale, Dr. O…"

"Oh yeah. So, practice. Here's a worksheet on relative time, fill out the fossil correlation section. Which, by the way, is how we relate the sites of relative order."

"What about absolute time?"

"A rock's half-life is determined in the lab to find it's absolute age."

"…Psh. Way to crash the family reunion."

"Ethan, you have to measure it's half-life by detecting the energy released during the decay of the-…you're not listening, are you?"

"Huh?"

*sigh* "You won't be asked to demonstrate absolute time on the exam.

_Buzz buzz._

"Oh. Ok. Cool. So, worksheet?"

"Right here. I'll be right back."

"Gotcha. Hey Dr. Oliver!"

"What Ethan?"

"Thanks for, you know, doing this tutoring."

"No pro-"

"And not telling the others I'm getting a D in your class."

"It's-"

"And for going along with the whole Video Game Expo thing."

"Are you done?"

"Yep."

"You're welcome. Besides, with the exception of Trent The Invincible, we've all been tired lately."

"You're just saying that because you don't want me to tell Randall you were late four-"

"_Fossil correlation!_"

"Right. Sorry."

_Buzz buzz._


	12. Chapter 12: Kira

**CHAPTER 12: KIRA**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:05

"Kira, take the kid and close and lock the door before I kill someone."

_He actually looks kind of cute right now…_

…_What?! AGH!!_

_Cormac! I was totally thinking about Cormac! Because Cormac knows he's guilty, so he's trying to look innocent, and he's really cute when he's trying to look innocent! Right! So, Cormac…wait a minute…Cormac? ...Oh yeah!_

"CORMAC!"

Cormac just smiled up at her. _Crap. Deaf kid._ She stepped aside, and firmly pointed to the kitchen, indicating that's where she wanted him to go. He shook his head and brushed Connor's hand off his shoulder.

"'Scuse meh," he said before marching in, smiling, with his head held high. _Brat. I mean, little cousin whom I care for deeply._

"Kira, I love you," _Wait, what? Huh?!_ Her mouth dropped open, but luckily for her, Connor was looking at Cormac stalking away. "but your cousins are total brats." He stepped past her. "Well, not the baby. She's cool."

Kira snapped her mouth shut. "Mwa?"

Connor stopped walking and stared at her.

"Come again?"

_Wow, real smooth._

"I mean-who? Cora?"

"No, _baby_, Kira. I like the _baby_. You know, the _sleeping_ one. I like _her_."

"Him."

"Who?"

Kira couldn't help it; she burst out laughing.

"The baby-" she gasped. "-is a him! He's a boy!"

"What was with the pink blanket?!"

Kira leaned against the wall. "Cora…chocolate…blue…laundry…pink…clean!"

Connor hadn't even cracked a smile. _And cease the maniacal cackle._

"Yeeaaah…all I got out of that was that Cora spilled hot chocolate on the blue blanket so you threw it in the laundry but pink was the only clean blanket."

"Oh, that's _all_ you got out of those seven words?"

"Six."

"Six what?"

"It was only six words." She rolled her eyes.

_Oh good lord._

"Whatever." She closed the back door and turned towards the direction of the kitchen. "You wanna be good baby-sitter or bad baby-sitter?" Connor reached out and grabbed her shoulders so they were standing how they were when Cora found them last time.

"Whoa whoa whoa. No good cop/bad cop routine. We're both bad cops here."

"Alright," Kira said slowly. "So…discontent in the police station…nice. I like. Let's do it." He dropped his hands.

_Is it bad that I really would have liked him to keep his hands there?_

"Glad you approve. Let's go."

They turned around, then stopped dead in their tracks and took on identical horrified expressions.

Cora was standing at the end of the hallway, with the same just-walked-into-a-door expression as last time, clutching the same stuffed rabbit.

_No. Freaking. Way._

"Cora?" Kira tried to sound as authoritative as she could manage in that moment. "What are you doing up? I told you to go to bed."

"You didn't say I had to stay in bed, exactly."

Kira crossed her arms.

"Wait-she's in on this too?" Connor muttered.

"Yep."

"Can we kill her too?" _Yep._

"Connor."

"Kididng."

"No you weren't."

"Neither were you."

"You're right, I wasn't kidding. Your name is, in fact, Connor."

"You know what I mean!"

"Yeah, but I think the ranger Code of Honor or something says we can't attack without being attacked first."

"Attacked first?!" he hissed at her. "They've 'attacked first' about four times now!"

"Did you just use air quotes?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"No." she lied.

"Liar."

_Geez he's good. How does he always say exactly what I'm thinking?_

"Should I come back later?" Cora asked sweetly.

"No!" They both replied. They glanced at each other. "Yes!" Another glance.

"Hey, she's your blood," Connor said. "I'm gonna go chuck ice cubes at the other one." And he left for the kitchen.

"Ok, what are you doing up Cora?" Kira asked, walking towards her.

"Were you kissing again?" Cora asked accusingly.

"You're up because you wanted to see us kissing?" Kira asked teasingly. It worked. Cora giggled behind her rabbit.

"No, goofy!" she said. _Great, Connor's a dwarf and I'm a dog_. "I want you to read me a story! I always fall asleep to mommy's voice." _And I'm pretty sure you heard someone say that and you're just repeating it._

"Alright you silly goose. Let's go." She took Cora's hand (the other was still holding that rabbit) and led her upstairs.

_I hope Connor can handle that ice till I get back._


	13. Chapter 13: Connor

**CHAPTER 13: CONNOR**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:05

_Remember McKnight, calm._

"Kira, take the kid and close and lock the door before I kill someone."

_You know, she looks kinda cute right about now…_

…_WHAT?! AGH!! Ok, think different thoughts, like…why does she look so confused?_

"CORMAC!" she suddenly yelled. _Whoa. Ok. Much better_. Realization dawned on her face as she remembered Cormac couldn't understand her. She stepped aside and firmly pointed to the kitchen. Cormac's head shook and he pushed Connor's hand off his shoulder.

"'Scuse meh," he said before stalking towards the kitchen. _Why that little brat._

"Kira, I love you, but your cousins are total brats." _Oh my god I did not just say that out loud. Oh wait. I totally did. Dumbass_. "Well, not the baby. She's cool." He stepped inside the house.

"Mwa?"

_Huh?_

He stopped walking and stared at her. "Come again?"

"I mean, huh? Who, Cora?"

_Oh yeah, I totally love Cora._

"No. _Baby_, Kira. I like the _baby_. You know, the _sleeping_ one. I like _her_."

Kira blinked at him.

"Him."

"Who?"

She burst out laughing.

"The baby is a him! He's a boy!"

_No…_

"What was with the pink blanket?!"

She leaned against the wall for support. "Cora…chocolate…blue…laundry…pink…clean!" She gasped out.

_Cora chocolate blue laundry pink clean._

'_Why Kira, that's one of the most intelligent things you've ever said.'_

_Nah, that's mean._

"Yeeeaah…all I got out of that was that Cora spilled hot chocolate on the blue blanket so you threw it in the laundry but pink was the only clean blanket."

Kira stopped laughing and tilted her head to look at him. "Oh, that's _all_ you got out of those seven words?"

_Cora-chocolate-blue-laundry-pink-clean._

"Six."

"Six what?"

"It was only six words."

She rolled her eyes at him.

_Why do people always react like that when I correct them? It's not my fault I'm mathematically inclined!_

"Whatever."

She reached around him and pulled the back door shut. At this close proximity, he could smell her shampoo. "You wanna be good baby-sitter or bad baby-sitter?" _Oh no, that won't do_. He held her shoulders so they were eye-to-eye again.

"Whoa whoa whoa. No good cop/bad cop routine. We're both bad cops here!"

"Alright, so…discontent in the police station. Nice. I like. Let's do it."

"Glad you approve. Let's go."

But when they turned, Cora was standing there. _Oh great. Her again._

"Cora, what are you doing up? I told you to go to bed." _She got up again?! They've totally got something planned for later tonight. Fun fun fun._

"You didn't say I had to stay in bed, exactly."

"Wait-she's in on this too?"

"Yep."

"Can we kill her too?"

"Connor."

"Kidding."

"No you weren't."

"Neither were you."

"You're right, I wasn't. Your name is, in fact, Connor."

"You know what I mean." _Smartass._

"Yeah, but I think the ranger Code of Honor or something says we can't attack without being attacked first."

_What?!_

"Attacked first?! They've 'attacked first' about four times now!" _Nice touch with the air quotes McKnight._

"Did you just use air quotes?" _Damn you Kira._

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"No."

"Liar."

"Should I come back later?" _No! Just leave and then never return!_

"No!" They both said. _Oops_. "Yes!" _Screw this._

"Hey, she's your blood. I'm gonna go chuck ice cubes at the other one.

As he walked into the kitchen, he heard Cora ask Kira accusingly "Were you kissing again?"

_Oh brother. Speaking of brothers…_

He sat down opposite Cormac at the table. Cormac just folded his hands and stared at him with innocent eyes. Connor stared back. And they stared. And stared. And stared some more. At one point, Connor heard Kira and Cora walking up the stairs, but he just kept on staring. Finally, Cormac reached towards the center of the table where there was a pile of construction paper and markers and crayons. He selected a white piece of paper and a black marker, and wrote something at the top of the paper.

_Oh joy. Art project time. Wonder what he's writing. Maybe it's a heartfelt apology. Psh. Yeah right. It might as well be Theodore Roosevelt's Inaugural Address._

Cormac slid the paper so it rested on the table in front of Connor. In 9 year-old scrawl it said:

(Cormac) Hi! My name is Cormac! What is your name?

_Is this a joke? Well, two can play this game._ He grabbed a red marker and wrote underneath Cormac's note:

(Connor) My name is Connor.

They continued to slide the paper back and forth.

(Cormac) Hello Connor. Do you like soccer?

(Connor) Yes.

(Cormac) I play for my school. I'm the goalie. I don't like goalie. You can't score goals.

(Connor) Yes you can. I scored a goal once after I punted the ball all the way down the field.

(Cormac) No way! That's so cool! I bet you're really strong. Goalies are strong because they use their arms and nobody else can.

(Connor) I'm a forward. I like to score goals. But you're strong too. You threw those pinecones really hard. It hurt.

_Little white lie…but who's gonna know?_

(Cormac) Sorry about that. But I was bored. And we didn't even get to do the whole prank!

(Connor) Was there more?

(Cormac) Yes. Cora was going to scare Kira. Kira once said that she screamed sooooo loud, she knocked somebody over. We wanted to hear her scream.

_Hmph. Little does he know…speaking of Kira…I need to talk to _someone_._

He pulled out his phone and called Ethan, while still "talking" to Cormac.

(Connor) I've heard her scream and it's not too loud. If it was, she wouldn't be able to sing.

_Come on Ethan, I've been to expos, and they're not as interesting as the pictures in the brochures make them out to be. You've got to get bored eventually-pick up your phone!_

In the meantime, his and Cormac's written conversations were moving onto bigger and better things.

(Cormac) I'm not sure if I should get nylon or cloth socks.

(Connor) Go with nylon little dude. My mom makes me wash my nylon socks because they're harder to get clean, but the cloth socks are heavier which is bad when it's really hot out.

(Cormac) But it's good when it's cold outside.

(Connor) We live in California. It's never cold outside.

(Cormac) Yes it is! Last week! I had to wear a sweatshirt!

_Poor baby. I'm trying Ethan again._

(Cormac) You're being rude.

(Connor) How?

(Cormac) You keep trying to call someone, and they obviously don't want to talk to you, but you keep calling.

(Connor) That's not rude. It's presistance.

_Spelled that word wrong._

(Cormac) You spelled 'persistence' wrong.

(Connor) I'm bad at spelling.

_Smartass._

(Cormac) I'm bad at math.

(Connor) I'm good at math.

(Cormac) I'm good at spelling.

_Please Ethan. Third time's the charm…_

He dialed again.

"What?" Was the first thing Ethan said when he answered.

"Whoa, sorry dude. Why are you talking so quietly?"

"Uh, I'm not. Bad service. Now what do you want?"

"I'm having a dilemma and I need to ask your opinion."

"What's her name?" Ethan asked knowingly.

_There's no way it could be that obvious._

"Doesn't matter," he muttered. "I just don't know what to do."

"And…why exactly are you asking me?"

"I just need an opinion. She's my friend, and I don't want my feelings to make it awkward for us and our group of friends." _Well put McKnight._

(Cormac) Now you're being rude to me.

_Come on kid, this is important._

(Connor) Sorry. It's girl trouble. You wouldn't understand. What's your favorite TV show?

(Cormac) Yu-Gi-Oh!

"If it was your friend and you didn't want to screw things up with all your friends, how would you approach her?"

"So, you are going to approach her, right?"

_Eventually._

"Sure I guess."

"Alright, so first thing. This couldn't happen to me and my friends, because Reefside High is void of female computer nerds."

_Oh gimme a break._

"Secondly BEEP should approach her BEEP not want to ruin your BEEP group of friends has now."

"Um, you're beeping."

"Huh?" BEEP "Oh. Sorry BEEP another call. Hold that BEEP"

Connor sighed. "Holding."

(Cormac) What kind of music do you like and why?

(Connor) I like the Cheetah Girls.

_Haha that look on Cormac's face is priceless_! He laughed out loud. Cormac looked relieved as he wrote on the paper again.

(Cormac) I thought that was music only for little girls.

(Connor) It is. What kind of music do you

_Oh crap. He's deaf._ Duh. He hastily scribbled completely over the question and slid the two word response across the table.

(Cormac) I like Jump5. Their dancing is better than The Cheetah Girls.

_Huh?_

(Connor) You like music?

(Cormac) I like WATCHING music.

_Huh?_

(Connor) How do you watch music?

Cormac's face lit up and hurriedly wrote down what looked like a very detailed explanation of watching music.

"Connor?"

"Yeah hey Ethan."

"Sorry about that. Kira's having a Trent dilemma and she can't get a hold of Hayley."

Connor stopped breathing for a minute.

"Connor? You still there?"

"What? Oh, yeah! Sorry, got distracted."

Ethan was silent for a moment.

"I really hate to ask, but you're not with this girl right now, are you?"

"What? No! We're baby-sitting!"

"Oh right. Kira's cousins. Sorry I-" he broke off and silence ensued.

Connor checked his phone.

_Nope, still working._

"Ethan?"

Nothing.

"Helloooo? Ethan! You still there? Come on don't die on me now dude! I need you! Well, I need your advice at least..."

Connor thought he heard someone in the background say "Ethan! You're still connected!" before Ethan spoke again.

"Huh? Yeah, I here. I alive. I guiding." _Translation: I crazy._ "Right, so, Kira's cousins...ok, it's not Kira is it?"

_Grr..._

Cormac finished his novel and slid it across to Connor and smiled at him.

"What's not Kira?" _Did that sound innocent? I really hope that sounded innocent..._

"Is Kira the girl/friend you're talking about?"

_No, seriously-is it that obvious?! All I've said is what I'm doing right now, which involves Kira regardless! How does this kid always figure stuff out? He hardly even has any girl experience-he said so himself!_

"She is, isn't she? Well, I trust that by 'group of friends' you meant me, as I'm the only friend you two have in common. I'd just like you to know that I have no problems with it, it won't make things awkward, and I'm sure it won't tear the group apart, seen as all of mankind is kina sorta depending on us to save their helpless asses. Now, go ask her out."

"Uh...yeah...you just said she still likes Trent."

"Oh. I did, didn't I? Well, I just BEEP."

Connor sighed. "You know what? Answer you other calls (you social boy, you) and have fun at the rest of your Expo. I'll figure something out. And thanks man."

"No problemo. BEEP ok with her for the rest of the night?"

"Totally. Me and Cormac are discussing..." he glanced at the paper in front of him. "...uh, _composers_."

_Whatever that means._

"Ok then," Ethan said slowly. "Have fun with that. Later."

"See ya."

_Well, that was...odd. At least I'm not blind in this; I now know Kira likes Trent. Ugh I need to think of something else..._


	14. Chapter 14: Kira

**CHAPTER 14: KIRA**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:30

"Alright you silly goose. Let's go." Kira took Cora's hand (the other was still holding that rabbit) and led her upstairs.

_I hope Connor can handle that ice till I get back. And by 'handle' I mean 'don't kill Cormac'._

She got Cora into bed and was only a few pages into Green Eggs and Ham when Cora's eyelids fluttered shut and she rolled over. _Thank you! Finally! I need to call Hayley!_ She turned off the light, double checked the night light, and quietly closed the door. _Connor and Cormac will be at it for a while, I'll just use his room._ She called Hayley, but it went to voicemail after only two rings_. Aw Hayley you did NOT just reject my call. Fine. I'll try Ethan_. But it was busy so she disconnected, forgetting about the marvels of the cell phones of 2004. She called back and let the busy signal beep a few times. To be percise, she waited for six busy signal beeps. _It's kinda like ringing, I guess..._

"Yo."

"Ethan! Hey!"

"Kira!" _Does he sound surprised?_ "What's up? How's the baby-sitting going?"

"It sucks." She stated bluntly, wanting to get to the point. "So, I'm having a dilemma and I kinda need your boy/friend opinion."

"A _dilemma_? Really? I'm getting a lot of those tonight," he muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nada. What's troubling you, young grasshopper?"

_Oh Ethan. I'm facing a moral crisis yet you manage to make me smile._

"Well, it's boy trouble."

She waited for Ethan to digest this.

"Oh? Of what sort?"

Kira took a deep breath. "Ok, well...I think I might like this guy, but I can't."

"So, you _do_ like him, but you _can't_ like him. Now are we talking about unusual circumstances that would surround this relationship, or your inability to be in a relationship?"

Kira didn't say anything.

"Kira?"

"My inability?"

"Just answer the question," Ethan sighed.

"Unusual circumstances. But they're already unusual."

Ethan thought about this. "Huh. So the present unusualness would just grow into unusuality…"

"Unusuality? Is that even a word?"

"Wha? I mean-yeah. Sure. Maybe not by Webster's standard, but that guy's got nothing on the James standard."

"Eth, it's good that you're proud of your intelligence, but if you don't mind…"

"Oh, right! Trrr…eating!" _What_?! "_Treating_ this issue! Ok, um..so…"

"Buttons."

"Eh?"

"Sorry. _So_ buttons on your underwear."

"Why would I sew buttons on my underwear?"

"Because zippers aren't in style."

"But why would I have zippers on my underwear?"

"Ethan-stay focused!"

"_You're_ the one who started going on about the buttons and zippers on your underwear!"

"Excuse me?!" _That wasn't Ethan…who was that? ...Was that…Dr. O? _Kira heard some muffled noises coming from Ethan's end.

"Eth? You still there?"

"Yes! Sorry! What makes the situation unusual?"

Kira sighed. "It's just that we're already friends and I don't want to make things-"

"Awkward for you and your group of friends." _Wait, how did he know that?_

"Yeah…"

"Ok, here's what you do," Kira waited. "First off, stop freaking out about a crush_." Right. It's just a crush._ "Next, you've probably BEEP-"

"What?"

"Would you let me BEEP …Geez."

"You're beeping, Eth."

"Ugh. Not again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, BEEP …uh…busy night. You know, BEEP -ting separated from BEEP."

"Ok you just have fun tonight."

"BEEP thanks you too. Just don't BEEP anything. Time will tell if BEEP work out."

"Well listen to you Mr. Philosopher. Talk to you later."

"Later Kira."

_Joy. Joy to the world. Joy to the freaking world. Thanks for the help, Eth. Ok, maybe he did help…It. Is. A. Crush. Nothing more. They're perfectly normal! Happen all the time! Not necessarily to me exactly, but it was bound to happen eventually I guess…but why did it have to be Connor?! Nothing against Connor, but he's _Connor_! I mean, come on!_

Just then she happened to glance at the clock resting on Cormac's bedside table, which read 11:45.

_Dang. They'll be home soon. We better get Cormac back into bed. Well, not so much 'back into bed' as 'into bed for the first time'. Stupid kids._ She made her way downstairs to the kitchen. _I was always good for baby-sitters, what's with kids these days?_


	15. Chapter 15: Tommy

**This chapter is dedicated to those of us who have to set our clocks fast so we'll never be late (but we still are anyway).**

**CHAPTER 15: TOMMY**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:30

"I'll be right back."

"Gotcha."

Tommy was already at the foot of the stairs when Ethan called "Hey Dr. Oliver!" _Come on. I need to take this call! Whoever says that students come first anyway?_

"What Ethan?" he sighed.

"Thanks for, you know, doing this tutoring," Ethan said sheepishly.

_My pleasure._ "It's-"

"And for not telling the others," Ethan interrupted.

_It's not a problem_. "No pro-"

"And for going along with the whole video game Expo thing."

Tommy waited.

"Done?"

"Yep."

"You're welcome. Besides, with the exception of Trent the invincible, we've all been tired lately." _Why am I being nice and prolonging this? Oh yeah, I don't want him to tell Randall I was late to class four times this week._

"You just don't want me to tell Randall you were late four-"

"Fossil correlation!" Tommy interrupted him. _I swear, sometimes this boy can read minds._

"Right. Sorry." Ethan looked down at his worksheet.

_Thank you_! Tommy went into this living room, opening his phone and checking the call he had missed. He hit 'call back' as he flopped onto his couch.

"Hey stranger. Thanks for not taking my call." Tommy smiled to himself.

"You know Hillard, if I didn't know any better, it sounds like you miss me."

"Keep dreaming Thomas. But really, what'd you do this time? Fall asleep? Lose your phone? Set the oven on fire? Put a pizza on and fall asleep but then wake up to smoke because you hadn't noticed you dropped your phone in the oven until it set your kitchen on fire?"

"Very funny. If you must know, I was performing my civic duty."

"So in other words, either there was a monster attack, or you got another speeding ticket and have community service."

Tommy paused. Technically, he had only been late to class three times that week because he was tired and had overslept. The fourth time, he was just plain late and in a hurry to get to school.

"How did you know about the speeding ticket?"

Kat laughed. _God I miss hearing that everyday._

"I'm a girl," she said. "We know everything." _Girls? Oh…_

"Hayley," he muttered. "Man, I can't tell her _anything_."

"Aw you're not still caught up on the ranger thing are you?" He could tell she was still smiling as she said this.

"I didn't want you to worry." _Not a complete lie…_

"Tommy, it's nothing to be embarrassed about."

_How does she do that?_

"Oh yeah?" He asked, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the couch. "You try it sometime. Connor actually came pretty close to beating me in sparring practice last week."

"Well, you're still the best."

"No, I'm the greatest," he said teasingly. "Not the best, the greatest. Honestly, when are you going to get it right?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Fantastic."

"That's _Doctor_ Fantastic to you."

Kat laughed again. "Ok, so really, what was it-monster or ticket?"

"Tutoring."

"Oh right, I forgot! The great doctor is a _teacher_ too!" Tommy also had to smile at that.

"Yeah yeah yeah twinkle toes. Laugh it out."

"Wait, it's about eleven thirty in California, right?"

The clock on the wall read eleven fifty-one, which really meant… "Eleven thirty-six."

"…You're tutoring at eleven thirty-six at night?"

"It's Ethan."

"Ah."

"We were rudely interrupted this afternoon and Kira and Connor are baby-sitting, so it took a while longer than it should have."

"I see. And how'd that go?"

He winced as he thought about how close they had actually come to being defeated that afternoon.

"It was longer, not harder," he said. _Again, not a complete lie._

Tommy had known that Kira's cousins were really young, so he and Ethan decided to take on evil Trent and his wave of Tyrannodrones without telling anybody so Connor or Kira wouldn't be tempted to leave the kids to help them. Judging by his brief conversation with Kira, Connor would have tried to feed the kids to the Tyrannodrones for dinner. Because of their reduced numbers, they had both demorphed in a matter of minutes. The only reason they had come out victorious was because right as Trent was rushing to destroy them with his Drago Sword, Ethan accidently stepped on Tommy's foot, who in turn fell over, taking Ethan with him. Trent flew right over them and crashed into a tree. By the time Tommy and Ethan had untangled themselves and looked around for Trent, he was gone. They had technically 'won', but neither of them really considered it a 'victory'.

"Sure it wasn't," Kat replied knowingly.

"Well, I'm still breathing," Tommy said quickly, knowing exactly how to distract her. "Enough about my day, how's your show coming together?"

It worked.

Kat launched into the latest changes and updates that were happening with the ballet she was working on. It was an international show to be performed in Sydney at the beginning of spring, with the best dancers from every country around the globe performing (and a few from KO-35, but they were legal aliens, so no one really had to know about them). In addition to the adults, the cast had twenty featured kids, who also had their own number in the show. Kat had gotten a phone call a few months earlier asking her to replace the children's director who had to pull out at the last minute due to serious injury. After a few days of debating, Tommy convinced her that she couldn't pass up such an opportunity, especially since it meant spending a few months in her native Australia with her family.

As Kat was going on about constantly resizing costumes because the kids kept outgrowing them, Tommy heard the front door lock click. He snapped his head up and opened his eyes.

_Well that's not right._

He got up and slowly crept to the door. As he turned around the corner, the lights flicked on and he found himself face-to-face with the absolute last being he wanted to encounter at the moment.

_Oh crap!_

**A/N: Kudos to those who noticed the Mystic Force reference!!**


	16. Chapter 16: Hayley

**CHAPTER 16: HAYLEY**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:45

Hayley pulled into the driveway and parked next to Tommy's jeep.

_Hmm. The lights are off. Dr. I-lost-my-watch-again must _still_ be in his bat cave. You'd think he'd get tired of the yellow and brown walls after-_ she checked her watch _–seven hours. Aw well. At least I have a key now and don't have to go through the forest. Not that I have anything against wildlife, but I've replaced _way_ too many shoes in the last few months._ She put the key in the lock, opened the door, and started to feel along the wall for the light switch. As she flipped it on and light filled the hallway, she cried out as a figure suddenly stepped out from the living room.

"Gah!"

Tommy was standing there, holding his phone to his ear, with a priceless 'Oh crap!' expression on his face.

"What?" Hayley asked him. "What's wrong? Who's on the phone? And why are all your lights off?" She remembered something and whacked him on the arm. Hard.

"Ow!"

"And why are you walking around in the dark scaring people?!"

"I didn't do it on _purpose_!" He exclaimed. "Geez!"

Then they remembered the phone as they both heard Kat say "Tommy? What happened? Are you ok?"

"Is that…Kat?" Hayley asked wickedly.

"Um…no?" She held out her hand.

"Who's that?" Kat asked. "Is that Hayley?"

"Oh great," Tommy sighed. "Yeah. After you've spent two years of my salary, don't hang up. Here she is. Talk to you later." He handed the phone to Hayley. "I'll be-"

"In the bat cave," she finished for him, waving him away as she went into the living room. "Kat! Hi! How are you? I haven't talked to you in like-"

Kat interrupted her and she laughed at whatever she said.

"I know, right?"

After rolling his eyes as best as a guy could, Tommy went back downstairs. The two girls kept up the pointless chatter until Hayley was sure he was out of earshot.

"Ok he's gone." She lowered her voice just in case. "Talk to me Blondie."

"Oh it is so on Red," Kat said.

"Nice." Hayley whispered triumphantly. "When?"

"Friday." _Oh_ _no…_

"Uh, Kat, Friday is Operation Day…"

"_My_ Friday," Kat corrected herself. "_Your_ Thursday night."

"Oh, right! Just making sure!"

"What's your IQ and you can't remember the time difference?" Kat asked jokingly.

"Ha ha." Hayley's phone vibrated, but she didn't even check who it was before sending it straight to voicemail. _This is_ way _more important_. "All arrangements have been made?"

Kat hesitated. "Well…all except for one minor issue I'm not quite sure how to handle…"

_Ok, don't panic. Stay calm. Deep breaths, Hayley_. She tried to keep her voice even as she said "What's that?"

"Should we hire baby-sitters?"

_Phew!_ Hayley smiled to the empty room. "Not a problem, leave it to me. I know _exactly_ who to call…"


	17. Chapter 17: Ethan

Um, yeah...y'all need to review more...just saying :-)  
Really long chapter, sorry about that. But it fills a lot of the conversations in previous chapters. And it's Ethan, and you can't have enough of Ethan!  
Enjoy and review!!

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: ETHAN**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:30

"With the exception of Trent the Invincible, we've all been tired lately," Tommy said.

"You're just saying that because you don't want me to tell Randall you were late four-"

"_Fossil correlation!_"

"Right. Sorry."

_Buzz buzz_

_Alright, that's getting annoying._

"What?" He said quietly, so as not to risk Tommy over hearing him.

"Whoa, sorry dude," said Connor. "Why are you talking so quietly?" _Wait, Dr. O's phone buzzed too. He's probably talking to someone too; I don't need to whisper!_

"Uh, I'm not. Bad service. Now what do you want?"

"I'm having a dilemma and I need to ask your opinion." _Oh great, girl problems._

"What's her name?"

"Doesn't matter," Connor muttered, obviously embarrassed. "I just don't know what to do."

_Oh yeah, cuz I've got hordes of experience with girls._ "And…why exactly are you asking me?"

"I just need an opinion. She's my friend, and I don't want my feelings to make it awkward for us and our group of friends. If it was your friend and you didn't want to screw things up with all your friends, how would you approach her?"

"So, you are going to approach her, right?"

"Sure I guess."

"Alright, so first thing. This couldn't happen to me and my friends, because Reefside High is void of female computer nerds." He could almost hear Connor rolling his eyes. "Secondly you should approach her sooner rather than later so your friends can get used to you since you do not want to ruin the bond your group of friends has now."

"Um, you're beeping." _I'm…what? Did he say I'm 'beeping'?_

"Huh?" _Oh-beeping!_ "Oh. Sorry I have another call. Hold that thought."

Connor sighed into the phone. "Holding." _Five bucks says he's finally realized that he likes Kira. I mean, come on! It's sooooo obvious!_

Ethan transferred lines. "Yo."

"Ethan! Hey!" _Ooh…_

"Kira!" _Well_, s_peak of the devil_. "What's up? How's the baby-sitting going?"

"It sucks." _Ouch._ "So, I'm having a dilemma and I kinda need your boy/friend opinion."

"A _dilemma_? Really? I'm getting a lot of those tonight," Ethan muttered.

"Huh?" _Crap. Remember who you're talking to Ethan_!

"Nada. What's troubling you, young grasshopper?"

"Well, it's boy trouble." She paused.

_Boy trouble. Soooo…Trent trouble. Oh damn I hope he didn't call her and tell her about this afternoon. Oh yeah, cuz he totally would've done that. I can just imagine that phone call. 'Hey Kira! I attacked your team today and you weren't there. Just making sure Zeltrax hasn't finished you off first!' Brilliant Ethan…_

"Oh? Of what sort?"

He heard her take a deep breath. "Ok, well...I think I might like this guy, but I can't." _Oh yeah. Most likely Trent._

"So, you _do_ like him, but you _can't_ like him." _Definitely Trent_. "Now are we talking about unusual circumstances that would surround this relationship, or your inability to be in a relationship?"

Silence.

"Kira?"

"My inability?" _Way to go Eth. You are so dead when she gets back._

"Just answer the question," Ethan sighed.

"Unusual circumstances. But they're already unusual." _In other words, he's the ultimate evil and you're the ultimate good._

"Huh. So the present unusualness would just grow into unusuality…"

"Unusuality? Is that even a word?" Ethan thought he heard the door leading to the lair creak open.

"Wha? I mean-yeah. Sure. Maybe not by Webster's standard, but that guy's got nothing on the James standard." _Or at least, you know, dictionary(dot)com's standard..._

"Eth, it's good that you're proud of your intelligence, but if you don't mind…"

"Oh, right! Trrr…eating!" _Oops…_ "_Treating_ this issue! Ok, um..so…" he lost his train of thought.

"Buttons." _Buttons_?

"Eh?"

"Sorry. _So_ buttons on your underwear." _Underwear_?

"Why would I sew buttons on my underwear?"

"Because zippers aren't in style." _Zippers?!_

"But why would I have zippers on my underwear?"

"Ethan-stay focused!"

"_You're_ the one who started going on about the buttons and zippers on your underwear!"

"Excuse me?!" came a voice behind him. He jumped and covered the mouth piece.

"Dr. O!" He hissed. "Why are you sneaking up on people?"

"This is my house! I have a right to sneak! Geez…"

_Wonder what's bothering him…_

"Eth? You still there?"

"Yes! Sorry! What makes the situation unusual?"

Kira sighed. "It's just that we're already friends and I don't want to make things-"

"Awkward for you and your group of friends," he interrupted hurriedly, just remembering that he had Connor obsessing over her on the other line.

"Yeah…"

"Ok, here's what you do. First off, stop freaking out about a crush_. _Next, you've probably been overanalyzing the situation-"

"What?" _These people are so impatient for advice!_

"Would you let me finish? …Geez."

"You're beeping, Eth." _Again?!_

"Ugh. Not again," he muttered.

"Again?"

"Yeah, you know…uh…busy night. You know, we keep getting separated from the rest of the group."

"Ok you just have fun tonight."

"Will do, Kira, thanks. You too. Just don't freak out about anything. Time will tell if this dilemma will work out."

"Well listen to you Mr. Philosopher. Talk to you later."

"Later Kira."

He transferred lines again.

"Yeah?" But no one was there. "Hello?"

"Hey Ethan."

Ethan's eyes got wide and he stopped breathing for a moment. Tommy raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" Tommy mouthed.

Ethan jumped up and started frantically pointing to his phone and mouthing to Tommy. "It's TRENT." Tommy also jumped out of his chair and rushed to his seat at the computer, and started trying to pinpoint Trent's location.

"Keep talking!" Tommy muttered to him

"Uh, hi Trent. What's up?"

"Sorry to be calling you Ethan, but this can't wait." _He sounds almost…nice_.

"Uh, what can't wait Trent?"

"I just got back from Nevada a few minutes ago." _What the hell does Nevada have to do with anything?!_

Tommy had the line transferred into headphones and was also listening. The computer had almost found Trent's location.

"Um, that's nice. Good weather?" _I don't believe this! The guy almost killed us today and I'm asking him about the weather in Nevada! Wait a minute…Nevada?_ Ethan and Dr. O came to the realization at the same time and looked at each other.

"_Nevada?_!" They both exclaimed.

"Yeah. And hey Dr. O."

"Trent," Tommy said urgently. "What do you mean you were in Nevada?"

"Kira didn't tell you?"

They both looked at each other again.

"Kira didn't tell us what?" Tommy asked.

"I went to Nevada."

"Yeah, we got that part," Ethan said rolling his eyes. Tommy waved his hand at him, indicating he should shut up. _Hey, it's MY phone call!_

"You say you just got back a few minutes ago," Tommy said. "How long have you been there?"

"A week."

"A week?" said Ethan. "Then who tried to decapitate us today?!"

"Uh, yeah, that's why I'm calling. Um…Mesogog might have…I don't know…cloned me?" Trent said sheepishly.

"Cloned you?!" Tommy and Ethan said at the same time.

"I didn't know!" Trent exclaimed. "I got back and there was some guy sitting at my desk doing my science homework and he turned around and it was…well, me."

"Ha!" Ethan said. "He's not getting an A-his clone is!"

"Save it Ethan. So there are two of you?" Tommy asked.

"Well, no, there's me and there's evil me." Trent explained.

_Trent and evil Trent. So that means…_

"You're not evil?" Tommy and Ethan asked at the same time.

"Only when I morph. That's why I left, so I wouldn't have to morph and be evil. I told Kira this, I thought she would have passed it on." _Yeah, well, Kira's been a little distracted lately while she's been obsessing over you. Duh. _"I just didn't know about the clone thing. Or that he's been doing my science homework." he added. "Hey, do I still have to make that up? I mean, technically it was me."

"We'll worry about that later," Tommy said. "Ok, so if you morph, there are two evil white rangers?"

"I don't know. I haven't exactly wanted to test it out."

"Good idea. Don't morph."

"No problem."

"I'll talk with Hayley and see if we can figure something out. For now, just sit tight. And come to my office Monday morning so we can discuss your grade."

"You have an office?" Trent and Ethan both asked.

"On the third floor. I never use it, but I don't think Connor and Kira should know just yet, so go there instead of the room. They'll probably freak."

"There's a third floor?" Trent asked, as Ethan said "Did you just say 'freak'?"

"Yes and yes," Tommy said reluctantly. "The stairs are just past Randall's office. And stop gaping at me Ethan!"

"You said 'freak'." Ethan said incredulously. "And you used it as a verb. I know you're younger than most Doctors, Dr. O, but that's just weird…"

"Ugh. See you Monday Trent. And don't-"

"Do anything stupid." Trent finished for him.

"I wasn't going to say 'stupid', but ok."

"Right. Thanks Dr. O. Bye Ethan."

"Later."

They disconnected and Tommy and Ethan looked at each other.

"Well," Tommy said clearing his throat. "That was…"

"Interesting." Said Ethan.

"Yeah…" _Stupid Trent. Oh crap_.

"Um…I'm still on with Connor…"

"Go ahead. I need a break from science anyway. How many calls have you gotten tonight?" Tommy asked curiously, remembering that he was on with Kira earlier.

"Three. But you can't blame me! It was your idea to do this on a Friday!"

"It wouldn't have gone so late if Trent hadn't…um…"

They both shuddered at the thought of two Trent's, regardless of whether or not one was evil and one wasn't.

"I need a vacation," muttered Tommy, going back to his seat at the table. "I bet Sydney is nice this time of year…"

_Seriously, the fossil dust is getting to his mind. Ok, now time to make up a story._

"Connor?"

"Yeah hey Ethan."

"Sorry about that. Kira's having a Trent dilemma and she can't get a hold of Hayley."

Silence.

"Connor? You still there?"

"What? Oh, yeah! Sorry, got distracted."

Ethan thought over his options.

"I really hate to ask, but you're not with this girl right now, are you?"

"What? No! We're baby-sitting!" '_We're'? Yeah, busted Connor. It's totally Kira._

"Oh right. Kira's cousins. Sorry I-" he broke off as someone came down the stairs. It was Hayley. _What is with these people showing up out of nowhere?_ Tommy looked up and Hayley held out a phone to him.

"Ethan?"

"'Bout time," Tommy muttered. _That's probably what he's been so uptight about. _But then he looked down at the closed phone and glared at Hayley.

"She'll call back after she gets back from the dinner. There's a 'no talking and driving' law there. They've got it right. I almost got pulverized on my way over here by a guy who was yelling at someone while he was driving…" Tommy sat back down and turned away from Hayley, obviously upset about something.

"Helloooo? Ethan! You still there? Come on don't die on me now dude! I need you! Well, I need your advice at least..."

Hayley waved but saw Ethan was on the phone so she said "Ethan! You're still connected!" _Oh yeah!_

"Huh? Yeah, I here. I alive. I guiding. Right, so, Kira's cousins..." _His denial and obliviousness is getting really annoying.._. "Ok, it's not Kira is it?"

"What's not Kira?" _Nice try Connor, but that so wasn't innocent._

"Is Kira the girl/friend you're talking about?" Connor didn't say anything. "She is, isn't she? Well, I trust that by 'group of friends' you meant me, as I'm the only friend you two have in common. I'd just like you to know that I have no problems with it, it won't make things awkward, and I'm sure it won't tear the group apart, seen as all of mankind is kina sorta depending on us to save their helpless asses. Now, go ask her out." He finished happily.

"Uh...yeah...you just said she still likes Trent." _Oh. Oops._

"Oh. I did, didn't I? Well, I just think you should at least talk to her about your feelings."

Connor sighed. _What'd I say?_ "You know what? Answer you other calls (you social boy, you) and have fun at the rest of your Expo. I'll figure something out. And thanks man." _I'm beeping AGAIN?_

"No problemo. Are you gonna be ok with her for the rest of the night?"

"Totally. Me and Cormac are discussing...uh..._composers_."

"Ok then," Ethan said slowly. "Have fun with that. Later."

"See ya."

Ethan transferred lines again, and impatiently said "What do you want?"

"That is no way to talk to your mother Ethan James." _God dammit_! "I brought you into this world, I can easily take you out of it."

"Mom! Hi! Sorry! I was, um…I've been getting a lot of calls tonight. You know, the week before Valentine's Day, everyone needs help."

Hayley snickered. _What is she laughing at?_ He then realized Tommy must not have disconnected his phone from the computer, so Hayley could listen in. He turned around and sure enough, Hayley had the headphones on.

"Sorry," she whispered, still smiling as she took the headphones off. "Couldn't resist!" _Whatever._

"I'm kidding Ethan."

"Right. Sorry. Didn't mean to snap."

"That's alright. I was just wondering if you're going to be home soon?"

_That's weird. She's never worried before._

"Um, yeah probably. I'm pretty much done here. And the library closes at midnight anyway." He had told his mom he was studying in the library all night. He justified this explanation because Tommy's computer _did_ have a library. The only thing was, it was a library of power ranger related fun. But what with their leader being a teacher, Ethan wanted to be prepared for a pop quiz on _any_ subject Tommy could think up (hence the extra tutoring. And as an added bonus, Tommy had left his lesson plans out earlier, so Ethan knew for a fact there would be a pop quiz on Tuesday).

"Ok, well, the sooner the better." _No, really, what's going on_?

"Um, ok. Is everything ok?"

Mrs. James sighed. "Your sister just called me. She lost her key again."

"_Again_?! Mom, we've changed the locks _twice_ already since the beginning of the school year!"

"Well, at least we moved to Reefside where a lost key risks a monster picking it up and infiltrating your home, so all the locksmiths have really good deals."

"Mom, a thirty foot monster doesn't need a _key_ to get into our house. If a monster was thirty feet tall and wanted to come over for dinner, there wouldn't _be_ a house _left_!"

"Just get home soon so the monster doesn't trample her instead of the flower garden_." Ooh that's a good idea! I wonder if we have Mesogog's number handy?_ "And I mean it! If a monster flattens your sister, I'm holding you personally responsible!"

_Mother, you have no idea the personal responsibility I would feel._

"Alright ok tell her I'm on my way." _Annoying little brown nose._

"Hi Hayley. What are you doing here so late?" Ethan asked her after he hung up the phone.

"I left my purse. Just came to pick it up." _She is smiling WAY too widely for a girl who's been without her purse for a day. I wonder what she's been up to._ "Well, I'll be leaving now. See you guys!"

"Bye Hayley," Tommy said.

"Bye." Ethan noticed she wasn't holding anything. He checked to make sure Tommy still had his back turned, and motioned towards Hayley's empty hands. She just put a finger to her lips and smiled.

"Good to see you Ethan!" She said cheerily before leaving.

_Hmph. Girls._

"Girls." Tommy muttered to no one.

_No, seriously, I can totally read minds! Definately from mom's side of the family._

"So, Dr. O," Ethan asked curiously. "Were you expecting a call from a special someone?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Ethan." _Liar._

"Uh-huh. Sure you don't." He waited a minute or two before saying "Soooo...what's her name?" _I should really start charging for my services._

Tommy sighed and turned the chair around. He eyed Ethan a minute before saying "Kat. She's been in Australia since before the school year started and she will be until the end of April. Happy?"

"Very, actually. I thought you wouldn't tell me and I'd have to press you for a while."

"I know," Tommy said dryly. "Don't tell Connor."

"Oh, so you just didn't want Connor to find out."

"I _still_ don't want Connor to-ok you know what? Just don't tell Connor. I trust you've had enough of dating for the day? Good." He said before Ethan could reply. "We'll finish this tomorrow night." They both got up to go upstairs.

"Sunday, actually. It's my turn to make dinner and my mom's working. The last time I skipped making dinner when she wasn't home was disastrous..."

"Fine. Sunday. See you then. If Trent doesn't show up again. Or...is it Trent 2?"

"Sub-Trent?" Ethan tried. "Whatever. See you Dr. O. And thanks again." By that time they had reached the front door.

"Bye Ethan." Tommy moved to shut the door, but then Ethan spun around.

"Hey Dr. O?" he asked, while walking backward towards the car she shared with his sister.

"Yeah Ethan?" _I'm totally going to die._

He unlocked the car door and started to get in to make a quick escape. "Just think of it this way: Australia is WAY closer than London."

The last thing Ethan saw before speeding down the drive was the look of shock on Tommy's face.

_Yep. Totally going to get murdered._


	18. Chapter 18: Connor

**CHAPTER 18: CONNOR**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:45

(Cormac) It's very easy actually. All you do is watch the people performing the music. When there are big orchestras on TV, I just watch the composers that are conducting the group. Watching the people play the instruments is really cool too. Sometimes the violins look like they're all choreographed to have the exact same strokes at the same time. It's really cool!!! When there's someone singing, like on Jay Leno, I watch how they really get into the music, then I can tell better than my mom how they're interpreting their own lyrics. This one time on Jay Leno, I could tell the song was almost over because everybody on stage was acting crazy like they do towards the end of a performance, and the drummer was going at it sooooo much, his drumstick flew out of his hand and almost hit the pianist in the head! It was great! I also like watching dancing. Like, ballets. This one kid on my soccer team said that was girly, but I think it's cool. Those people really get into their moves. And there's an orchestra to watch there too. And Jump5 is my definite favorite because they always dance, which is why they're called Jump, because they're always jumping and dancing and doing gymnastics, and 5 because there's 5 of them. My mom likes watching them too because there's dancing which I like, singing which Cora likes, and gymnastics which my mom likes. You should watch music sometime. It's really cool! You and me and Kira could watch something next time you guys are here!

(Connor) That's cool. We should definately do that sometime.

Cormac wrote his reply and slid it across to Connor, smiling widely the whole time.

(Cormac) Kira told me about watching music you know. I went to one of her performances as her personal song observer! After the show, I got to go backstage and tell her and whoever else in the show what they looked like when they were performing their songs! It was sooo cool! Kira's the best!

_No kidding kid. No freaking kidding…_


	19. Chapter 19: Kira

**CHAPTER 19: KIRA**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:45

_Stupid kids._ Kira made her way downstairs to the kitchen. _I was always good for baby-sitters, what's with kids these days?_

She stepped into the kitchen and came to a sudden halt, completely not expecting what she was seeing.

Connor was sitting at the kitchen table with his back turned to her, and Cormac was sitting directly across from him. But their civilization wasn't the unexpected part.

_Are they…Talkwriting?_

Connor wrote something on a piece of paper and slid it across to a very smiley Cormac, who in turn started writing something in reply.

_No._

_Way._

_I thought Cormac didn't like Connor! He never Talkwrites with anybody he's just met! He hates when random people write down what they want to say instead of just saying it. That's why he was so eager to learn how to lip read! …He must actually like Connor…hmm…I wonder if Connor even knows he can lip read…I probably should have mentioned that before leaving the two of them alone… Then again, Aunt K never told Cormac that she taught me how to sign. But that's different! I did that to connect with Cormac, not to fit into the world or eavesdrop on conversations!_

Cormac finished what he was writing and slid the paper again across to Connor. Then he looked over Connor's shoulder and saw Kira standing there. His smile got bigger, if that was possible, and he stood up and walked towards her. Connor looked around surprised.

"Wait-where are you going?"

"Nighd," Cormac said in reply, and he wrapped his arms around Kira's waist. Kira hugged him back, still utterly shocked. "Danks fo coming."

She snapped out of her trance as he pulled away and smiled down at him, then gave him a playful push out of the kitchen.

She watched him until he turned the corner, then she slowly turned her head to look surprisingly at Connor.

"What?" Connor asked defensively. "I didn't throw anything at him!"

Just then, the front door opened and they heard Aunt K call softly "Hello? Is anybody still awake?"

"More like is anybody still alive," muttered Uncle C tiredly. Their footsteps came closer to the kitchen.

"Kira, what's wrong?" Connor asked, standing up.

"Uh…nothing. Tell you later."

"Ok…" Connor said confused.

"Stop complaining," Aunt K and Uncle C came around the corner. "You can go to bed; I still have to feed Cole."

"Good point. Hey guys! How'd it go?"

"Splendidly!" Kira said, overly sarcastic.

"Liar." He turned to look at his wife. "That's from your side of the family by the way."

"Uh-huh." Aunt K replied. "That's why before we left I told Cora to tell you how pretty you look in that dress, and how you don't look like you gave birth two months ago."

"Oh…you heard that?"

"I was in the room, dear."

"Oh. Oops. You don't, by the way. I mean, you do! I mean…oh you know what I mean!"

"Of course I do! Thanks by the way!" then she rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'm going to Cole. Thanks for doing this Kira, and Connor for giving up your Friday night." She left to go to Cole's room.

"We tried before with just one sitter, but it didn't go over too well," said Uncle C. "And that was _before_ the baby."

"Don't remind me," Kira said, absentmindedly rubbing her shoulder.

"How did those X-Rays go by the way?" Uncle C asked.

"Uh…" _Crap. Stupid shoulder. 'Sorry Uncle C, but I couldn't go in for an X-Ray, I was beaten to a pulp by the evil white ranger the next day. And, you know, the whole secret identity thing. Can't go to the hospital every time your lab partner beats you up!' Yeah. That'll go over well. Though I can see how someone could mistake Cormac for an evil power ranger._ "Nothing wrong. Just bruised." She pasted a smile on her face.

"Oh well that's good," he said absentmindedly, while reaching on top of the fridge where, as Kira knew by experience, was where they stashed the envelopes with their baby-sitting money before they left. "Sorry about that by the way."

While his back was still turned, Connor looked pointedly at her. _Oh great._ She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was going to bring it up as soon as they were in the car. _Actually, there's something more in that look…He almost looks…concerned…_

"Well, here you go," he handed them both envelopes and walked them toward the door. "Thanks again. Really, it was so good for Kim to be able to go out, even if it was to such a dry gala. I don't get why I have to go to these things…" then he leaned around the corner to look up the stairs to see if his wife was still in Cole's room.

"No problem" Kira said.

"Drive safe Connor!"

"Absolutely. Bye Mr. Ford."

"Nice kids," Connor said sarcastically as he pulled out of the driveway. "That...that..." he struggled to think of a word.

"That sucked." Kira said quietly, slumping down in the seat and crossing her arms.

"Yeah! That's the word! It-" he looked at her and broke off. "Um, sorry."

She just grunted.

_No you're not. At least, I hope you're not. My family is insane. Figures my cousins would try to make the guy I like go crazy._

Connor gripped the steering wheel tighter and forced himself to look straight ahead and keep his voice even as he asked her "You ok?"

"Fine." _Lie._ "Tired." _Lie._

"Well, we're still a little under an hour away from Reefside. If you want to sleep, I'll wake you when we get there." _Lie. _She smiled.

"No you won't."

"Yeah probably not. But I will lock my garage door so no one can break in and kill you in the middle of the night," he joked.

"Aw gee thanks."

_I can't believe I like Connor McKnight. I mean, LIKE like. This isn't supposed to happen to me! I'm the rebel outcast! Our kind doesn't fall for cute jocks! Gah! There's that word again_! She leaned her head back against the headrest_. I'm getting a migraine. And I'm pretty sure it's not from Cora dropping that mixing bowl on my head while I was looking for the spatula she dropped under the counter…_

_Boys suck. No, hormones suck! Feelings too!_ Her eyelids fluttered. _I SO don't need this. I can't fall for a guy who might get destroyed by a monster at any time! And how would that change the team?! Ethan would have a field day for one. Dr. O would probably just freak. Hayley…well, she'll be upset I didn't tell her about it. Oh wait, I tried, but she sent me to voicemail! Thanks a ton Hayley._

_It was really cute when he got that band-aid for Cora though._ She could feel herself start to fall asleep._ And Cormac actually Talkwrote with him…maybe this boy does have potential…maybe… _

She fell asleep thinking of the guy driving her home.


	20. Chapter 20: Cormac

There will be more Connor/Kira I promise! This IS a Connor/Kira fic...I just get distracted and start going off in random directions...

**CHAPTER TWENTY: CORMAC**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:45

_He shouldn't be talking on the phone and talking to me at the same time. That's not very nice. Hmm I think he just said 'Kira'. Yeah he definitely said 'Kira'. I think he likes her. He just doesn't know it yet._

_Old people are so blind sometimes. Not like great grandpa George kind of blind, just blind like they don't realize that they want something that they think they can't get but they totally can if they just ask for it. It's like kids; when we want something, we just ask for it. Well, except Cora, but that's because she never says 'please'._

_Hmm…maybe me and Cora should act on Connor's blindness…Nah. We'll get in trouble like that time we told mom's friend with the weird talking style that the olive guy had a huge crush on her. But they're happy now, and Connor is clearly in a bad mood, so maybe we should…yeah…I need to talk to Cora! Oh there's Kira now! I better go to my room so they think I'm sleeping. Then mom and dad won't come check on me._

_I don't know why they talk about me when I'm right there…maybe I should tell them that Miss Ropsky taught me how to lip-read…nah! It's WAY more fun when people don't know I can understand them when they don't sign!_

_And now, off to cause chaos!! That should be my middle name. Cormac Chaos Ford. It's so much better than Cormac Angel Ford. I'm not a girl! And I'm not an angel at all_

_Well, only when I want something, obviously…_


	21. Chapter 21: Cora

**CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: CORA**

ANGEL GROVE  
FEBRUARY 6 2004  
11:45

_I'm not bad on purpose. I don't really think I'm bad at all, but people always tell me I'm doing something I'm not supposed to. _Cora heard Kira close the door and walk away quickly. Her eyes snapped open.

_Hmm_… She peeked through the crack in the door._ She's going to Cormac's room to talk on the phone. I wonder what's so important that she has to hide…_

Cora quietly snuck out of her room and across the hall to stand outside Cormac's room.

"It's boy trouble." She heard Kira say. _Eww…boys are icky._

_I wonder if she's talking about her boyfriend. I don't think they're having problems. They argue a lot, but so did momma and daddy a lot before Cole came. Maybe they're going to have a baby like momma! After all, momma said that it was only ok for her to yell at daddy because the baby was making her. Maybe Kira has a baby inside her too that's making her so angry at Lumpy! Maybe I could be the fairy godmother, like how Kira is Cole's fairy godmother! I would have a wand though. I don't know why Kira and Mr. Jason don't have wands._

_Uh-oh! She said good-bye! _Cora ran back to her room and pushed the door shut quietly before leaping into bed and pretending to be asleep again, certain that Kira would come look in again. Sure enough, a sliver of light shone against the far wall as Kira pushed the door open, then closed it quickly again. Cora heard her as she walked away.

_Her boots are really big. That's not good. I can hear her coming, and Cormac can feel her footsteps. _She smiled into her rabbit as she thought about earlier that night when she jumped out from behind a wall when she heard Kira coming. _I wanna hear Kira scream really loudly like she said she can. I wish I could scream really loudly. I wanna be the first thing that Cormac ever hears!_

_Cormac! I need to tell him about Kira's baby making her angry at Lumpy! Maybe we could help them!_


	22. Chapter 22: Kat

This is my favorite chapter so far. Just FYI.  
REVIEW

**CHAPTER TWENTY TWO: KAT**

SYDNEY (REEFSIDE/ANGEL GROVE)  
FEBRUARY 7 2004 (FEBRUARY 6 2004)  
4:30 (11:30)

"Bye Ms. K! Bye Riley!"

"See you Monday Riley! Bye Ms. Hillard!"

"Au revoir Kat and Riley!"

"Bye Mr. Riley! Thanks for helping with my costume Ms. Kat."

"Later K! See ya Nulty!"

Kat waved to the last of her students who were leaving for the night before shutting the door behind them. _Ms. Hillard. Honestly. I understand that this is a professional venue, but they're kids! Wouldn't they prefer first names?_

"Finally!" Her assistant director Riley McNulty slid down the wall next to the door and thumped onto the floor. "Saturday rehearsals are so not my thing."

"Aw it wasn't that bad," Kat replied, smiling as she gathered her things from the corner.

"Katherine, once you and Sir Thomas get married and have two little sick ones at home, you'll be right here on the floor next to me," he teased in his thick Irish accent.

"Nah," Kat replied. "I'm used to irregular sleep schedules." _That's what holding the power will do to a person. If you're not woken up in the middle of the night by a six tone beep, you're on an energy rush._

Riley opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Katherine, love, if you don't mind, I really don't want to think of your irregular sleep schedule when we're talking about you and Tommy…"

She wacked him in the head with her jacket.

"Oi! I was going to tell everyone it was your brilliant thinking that fixed the costumes, you don't have to kill me to get the credit!"

"Oh ha ha," Kat joked with him. "It's nice to know my hard work is appreciated by someone."

"Speaking of hard work," Riley said wriggling his eyebrows. "It's Saturday, no?"

"As you grudgingly mentioned before," she replied, pretending she didn't notice his suggestiveness.

"So, what'll it be this week? Dinner with the directors, or call your beau?"

Kat had to think about this.

_Well, we did end a half-hour early today…I guess in an hour and a half I could still call him and have time to be ready for dinner._

"I'll pick you up at quarter to six," she replied.

"Very good! Glad you're putting your priorities in order! By the way, does Tommy know about our little Saturday night rendezvous'?"

She hit him with her purse this time.

"Ok ok! I get it! You love him deeply and wouldn't do that!" he hastily stood up to avoid being hit by anything else she was carrying. "And if I may say, you're a rather violent lass today. Why are you in such a hurry anyway?"

Kat loved Saturdays. In California, she got to sleep in almost everyday, but on Saturdays Tommy was able to stay in bed with her. Now that she was in Australia for eight months, she had to get up at six, but it was the day that she and Tommy had set aside to have a decent conversation. Of course, there were those random moments in the week when one would find they were missing the other and had to call that very moment, regardless of what time it was in either location. Those only lasted a few minutes however, because it was usually Tommy doing the missing and the calling, and he forgot about the time difference and would wake Kat up, then refuse to talk for more than a few minutes so she wouldn't be tired the next day.

"I still need to call him and tell him I can't call him," Kat said in a 'duh' tone.

"Seriously? Girls actually do that?" he asked surprised. "I thought Brenna was making that up!"

Kat laughed. "Later Riley! Say hi to Brenna for me. And I hope Maureen and Sinead get better soon."

"Believe me Kat, me too. I'm amazed Brenna's actually letting me go to this thing tonight. See you at quarter to six!"

As she walked to the car she shared with her cousin Stephanie, she pulled out her phone and managed to call Tommy while still balancing the dozen costumes she was carrying. _These kids need to stop growing. In two months when the show is over they can start to sprout up. That's weird... _Tommy's phone rang, but after a while it went to voicemail. _He usually answers before the first ring is finished_._ Well, maybe he's not expecting it. It is a half hour earlier than he's used to. It's almost midnight in California, maybe he fell asleep waiting. Again. Or he set popcorn on fire. Again._

She piled the costumes in the back seat, and then started on her way to the apartment she was renting with Stephanie. Just as she entered the apartment, her phone rang and Tommy's name came up on the caller ID.

"Hey stranger," she teased. "Thanks for not taking my call."

"You know Hillard, if I didn't know any better, it sounds like you miss me." She dropped the costumes on the couch on her way to the kitchen.

"Keep dreaming Thomas. But really, what'd you do this time? Fall asleep? Lose your phone? Set the oven on fire? Put a pizza on and fall asleep but then wake up to smoke because you hadn't noticed you dropped your phone in the oven until it set your kitchen on fire?" She pulled a frozen pizza out of the freezer for Stephanie to make for dinner.

"Very funny. If you must know, I was performing my civic duty."

"So in other words, either there was a monster attack, or you got another speeding ticket and have community service."

Tommy paused. Kat heard the keys in the lock jingle and Stephanie call "Oh Miss Kaaaatherine! I be baaaaack! What's for dinner? I'm starving…"

"How did you know about the speeding ticket?"

Kat laughed, partly at Tommy's obliviousness, partly at Stephanie's over exaggerated face of hunger as she came from the hall. She waved at her and pointed to the defrosting pizza, then went to her bedroom to avoid Stephanie's kissy kissy faces she was making.

"I'm a girl. We know everything."

"Hayley. Man, I can't tell her _anything_."

"Aw you're not still caught up on the ranger thing are you?"

"I didn't want you to worry." _Liar._

"Tommy, it's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Oh yeah?" _He sounds tired._ "You try it sometime. Connor actually came pretty close to beating me in sparring practice last week." Kat flopped down in her over sized armchair.

"Well, you're still the best," she said encouragingly.

"No, I'm the greatest. Not the best, the greatest. Honestly, when are you going to get it right_?" Wow. Totally walked into that one._

"Excuse me, Mr. Fantastic."

"That's _Doctor_ Fantastic to you." _That one too._ She laughed again.

"Ok, so really, what was it-monster or ticket?"

"Tutoring."

"Oh right, I forgot! The great doctor is a _teacher_ too!"

"Yeah yeah yeah twinkle toes. Laugh it out." She could practically hear him smiling. Then she remembered their call schedule.

"Wait, it's about eleven thirty in California, right?"

"Eleven thirty-six_." Oh Tommy. The greatest doctor ever who is so proud of his ability to read a clock correctly…_

"…You're tutoring at eleven thirty-six at night?"

"It's Ethan." _Ethan…Ethan…oh, blue! Right I remember now!_

"Ah." She waited for the explanation that was sure to follow.

"We were rudely interrupted this afternoon and Kira and Connor are baby-sitting, so it took a while longer than it should have." _Translated from Tommy language, 'it was harder, not longer'._

"I see. And how'd that go?"

"It was longer, not harder." _Liar._

"Sure it wasn't."

"Well, I'm still breathing." She was going to say something about how unfortunate it was that he was still breathing, but he changed the subject before she had the chance. "Enough about my day, how's your show coming together?"

_Oh, yeah, because you totally want to listen to me go on and on about constantly growing ten year-olds. Not that I mind…_

"It's going really well! We have the show completely choreographed; we're just working on run-throughs before we throw the kids in with the rest of the cast. Our only problem really is with the costumes. These kids grow like crazy, especially the boys, so not even two months after we've gotten the completed costumes, twelve of them have to be resized. The thing is, they all hate standing still in the dressing room for ten minutes at a time. Can't imagine why… Anyway, since the costumer was only contracted through December when we got the final costumes, we have no costumer and there's no one hired even for the adult's company, because, duh, they don't outgrow their clothes every few months. So, Riley, his wife and I have been working on them as best we could. But, Riley's kids are sick, so we figured it would probably be better if he didn't take any so we're not suddenly overrun with twenty sick dancers this time next week. Especially because the kids can't dance it out like most of the older cast could do with a cold."

"Ow!" he said.

"Yeah but it's not that bad especially since I have Sunday off…wait, what?"

"I didn't do it on _purpose_!" He said. "Geez!" _I have a feeling he's not talking about zippers…_

"Tommy? What happened? Are you ok?"

"Is that…Kat?" she heard a female voice in the background ask.

"Um…no?" _You are a liar Tommy Oliver._

"Who is that? Is that Hayley?" Kat said, trying to sound surprised.

"Oh great," Tommy sighed. "Yeah. After you've spent two years of my salary, don't hang up. Here she is. Talk to you later." Then more quietly, as if he wasn't near the mouthpiece anymore, "I'll be-"

"In the bat cave," Hayley's overly cheerful voice came through the receiver. "Kat! Hi! How are you? I haven't talked to you in like-"

"Two days?"

"I know, right?"

"You are terrible Hayley. And how can you lose your phone the day I'm supposed to make my plane reservation? It's not fair to Tommy that you have to take his. And what are you going to tell him when you have to give the phone back?"

"Yeah Kat, we should totally have a girls' night when you get back!" Kat sighed.

"What am I going to do with you? Although I guess Tommy wouldn't have made it this long without you there. It figures he would become a ranger again as soon as he's faced with utter boredom for eight months. And is he gone yet?"

"Ok he's gone." Hayley's voice got softer. "Talk to me Blondie."

"Oh it is so on Red," Kat replied, ignoring the blond joke but subtly including the redhead joke at the same time.

"Nice." Hayley whispered triumphantly. "When?"

"Friday."

Hayley paused. "Uh, Kat, Friday is Operation Day…" _Oh, oops._

"_My_ Friday. Y_our_ Thursday night."

"Oh, right! Just making sure!" _It would figure her and Tommy are best friends._

"What's your IQ and you can't remember the time difference?" Kat asked jokingly.

"Ha ha. All arrangements have been made?"

Kat hesitated. G_o on Kat, she has to find out eventually. _"Well…all except for one minor issue I'm not quite sure how to handle…"

"What's that?"

"Should we hire baby-sitters?"

"Not a problem, leave it to me," Hayley said, sounding relieved. "I know _exactly_ who to call."

"Ok good. Otherwise, everything's a go."

"Awesome! This is going to be so great!"

"Yeah I'm really excited!" Kat looked at her watch. "Oh no. Hayley, I have to go. On Saturday nights all of the directors get together for dinner and talk about how each part of the show is going."

"Really? A whole Saturday night dinner just to check on the progress?"

"Well…kind of. We talk about it for a while, but really it's just a social to celebrate the end of yet another long week."

"But you're loving it." _Hayley, you know me too well._

"Just like McDonald's." Hayley laughed. "Could you tell Tommy I'll call him back after the dinner?"

"Hate to break it to you Blondie, but 'after the dinner' for you is 'before the breakfast' for us."

"He'll get up."

"First he'll try to stay up, but he'll fall asleep, then wake up when you call and pretend he was awake the whole time." Hayley said from experience.

"Really? He does that?"

"All the time. Don't tell him I told you. I think he's still mad at me for telling you he was a ranger again."

"Oh, yeah, because I wouldn't have been able to figure it out on my own."

"Not at all!" Hayley joked. "It was nice talking to you Kat. Again."

"You too Hayley! And don't forget about the baby-sitters!"

"Definitely not. Do you remember what happened last time they were at a party and they weren't supervised?"

"I try not to." _That reminds me, I need to ask Kira if she ever got those stains out of her shirt. I really like the shorts I was wearing that day, it'd be nice if they were decent again._ "See you next week! Call me if you need to! And find your phone so I don't get stranded in the airport. Again," she added.

"Hey, that was all Tommy's fault! For an eagle, the guy has no sense of direction."

"_Falcon_," Kat said in her best Tommy impression. "I was the _falcon_. When are you going to learn?"

Hayley cracked up. "Alright. Good talking to you girl. Can't wait to see you!"

"Bye Hayley!"

She hung up and changed her clothes for dinner, then went back to the kitchen to check on Stephanie before she left.

"Hey Steph I'm going out. I trust you'll be alright?"

"Kat, dahling," Stephanie said with a fake accent. "I adhore you and your motherly ways," she dropped the accent and said bluntly "but you're only 6 days older, and I was on my own looong before you decided to rejoin in the land of kangaroos and koalas."

"Ok ok I get the point. Have a good night!"

"Hey!" Stephanie called after her. "Where are you going?"

"It's Saturday. Director's dinner. I already called Tommy," she said, anticipating Stephanie's next question. "And I'll call again later. Oh, that reminds me, I'm definitely going to be gone next weekend."

"I could use a vacation right about now," Stephanie said dreamily.

"Hun, you are on vacation."

"Oh. Right. Well, I would like to go _away_ on my vacation then."

"But remember you're coming back with me in April!"

"Are you sure Tommy said that was ok? I really wouldn't want to intrude." She stood up and looked Kat in the eye. "I really _really_ _REALLY_ wouldn't want to intrude on…_that_…"

"Steph!"

"What?! Ok, sorry. I'll come." She turned back to her pizza. "But I'm sleeping at Hayley's."

"She's already expecting you," Kat said as she walked out. "See you later!"

"You are _good_ Katherine!" She heard Stephanie yell as the door swung shut. _Yeah I try._


	23. Chapter 23: Trent

**CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: TRENT**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 9 2004  
7:30

_Alright, don't freak out. It's just school._ Trent took a deep breath. _Screw this I can't do it_. He was standing at the edge of the campus of Reefside High on Monday morning.

_You have to go in, you told Dr. O you'd be in his office…  
Yeah, well, that was over the phone three days ago right after you'd found out you had an evil twin…  
But you're not evil anymore so there's nothing to worry about…  
What?! There's totally something to worry about! You're about to go sit in a class with students who you've tried to kill, on multiple occasions!...  
Well, it's not like you did it on purpose…  
No, but it still happened…_

…_Damn. I thought regular transfer students had it bad._

He swallowed his pride/humiliation and walked into the school. The secretary smiled at him as he walked past the front window and said "Good morning Mr. Fernandez!"

"Hi," Trent managed to say back unenthusiastically. He had never seen the secretary so nice before. Even on his first day when he was in the front office asking how to find the front office she had been rather nasty to the lost transfer.

_Ok, so far so good. It's not like anybody is even here to see you yet. It's still too early. Right, so just past Randall's office…hey what do ya know, there are stairs here. I never noticed that before. Ok, now just go up and you don't have to worry about running into anybody until science. Well, I'm gonna see Dr. O, but he doesn't seem like one to hold grudges. Ok, maybe he would. But it's not my fault anymore! Sheesh this door is heavy. Oh yeah,_ _this isn't a totally creepy stairwell at ALL. Got enough spider webs? _He stopped as the door to the third floor swung open.

"Oh. Hey Trent! How was the rest of your weekend?" asked Ethan.

_Oh crap! You gotta be kidding me! What's he doing here?!_

"Uh, fine. Caught up on science," he managed to reply. "What are you doing here?" he blurted out.

"I had to see for myself this office of Dr. O's," Ethan explained. "Trust me, it ain't all that grand." He stepped around him to walk down the stairs. "And if you don't see him right away through the piles of crap, just yell. He'll find you. It was _creepy_. And here I thought _you_ were the chameleon," he muttered as he walked down to the second floor where the science lab was.

"Um, ok. Good seeing you, I guess," Trent muttered.

"You too! See you in class!"

_Alright…that was weird. He's awfully forgiving in just three days._

He pulled open the much lighter door and walked down the hallway, checking each door before he found the one that said 'Mr. Thomas Oliver, Science' neatly handwritten on a multi-colored piece of paper in a plastic insert on the wall next to the door. Trent stepped in, and stopped in his tracks. Ethan was right. He was completely surrounded by disorganized piles of stuff.

"Um, hello?" he called softly. "Dr. O?"

"Oh, hey Trent!"

"Agh!" Trent jumped back in surprise. Tommy has appeared out of nowhere next to two piles that reached almost to the ceiling.

"Sorry," Tommy said. "Maybe I should clean some of this stuff out. Ethan had the same reaction. So did Randall, actually…yeah I better get this out of here. Anyway, let's talk grades." He said cheerfully, clapping his hands together.

_What is with everyone today?_


	24. Chapter 24: Ethan

Chapter 19 has been edited. All that's really changed is Uncle C did NOT ask them to baby-sit on Saturday, so you don't have to go back and read it if you don't want to.

Thanks PinkRangerV and Jeremy Shane for reviewing!!

**CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: ETHAN**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 9 2004  
7:20

_Early early early…I haven't been to school this early since we got our powers. Not that I've specifically wanted to or anything. I mean, it's bad enough I'm always being woken up because Mesogog is on a different sleep schedule than we are, but that energy rush when there's no monster is insane! How's a blue ranger supposed to get his beauty sleep?!_

Ethan walked into the school forty minutes before the tardy bell was scheduled to ring, pointedly ignoring the nasty secretary.

_Early early early…But so worth it to see Dr. O's office. I wonder what he's got up there. I wonder how I could never have known about this?!_

He made his way up the rather creepy stairwell, complete with spider webs, and walked down the hall until he found Dr. O's room.

_Hmm….he's right above the gym. You know, I could climb through the ceiling in the locker room and the ducts would take me here. It's a lot easier than climbing through the wall of the third floor to get to the roof. Not that I would ever go on the roof of the school to, say, put up a satellite dish so the TV's would have better channels in the detention room, because that's against the rules, but it's just nice to know my options. I wonder where Dr. O is anyhow…_

Right on cue, Tommy's voice came from behind him.

"Ethan! What are you doing here so early? Or what are you doing here at all?"

Ethan nearly had a stroke.

"Dr. O! Don't go around scaring people like that! Geez!" He put his hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat. "I think I'm having a heart attack…Mesogog can't even do this, but I stop in to my science teacher's office to say 'good morning' and the kind gesture practically kills me!"

"Ethan, stop being such a drama queen. Now seriously, what are you doing here? Trent's going to be here soon."

"If he can find you," Ethan muttered, looking around at the piles of clutter everywhere. The smallest was _only_ about four feet high; the highest almost reached the ceiling.

"What was that? Didn't quite catch it."

"Nothing! Thinking to myself! By the way, just out of curiosity," he said changing the subject. "Who made your name tag?"

"I don't wear a name tag."

"No, I mean the one outside on the wall. The one with girl's handwriting. The one on Christmas colored paper. The one that says 'mister'. That name tag."

"Oh. Uh, Kat did it. You know, red, white, and green…thought the 'Mister' would be funny…" Tommy said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"But you put it up anyway?" Ethan asked confused.

"Sentimental value," Tommy said defensively. "Now really, what do you want?"

"Like I said, just saying hello."

"Right. Are you sure you didn't want to see if there was any ventilation in here so you could use it as your through and through to the roof?"

_What? How does he know that? How does he know I climb through to the roof? The only people who know about that are Marcus, Randy, and…oh…_

"_Hayley_," he muttered. "Man, I can't tell that girl _anything_."

"Join the club," Tommy scoffed. "Now, if you don't need anything…"

"Hello Dr. O! Good morning! Ok that's it. See you in class. Which I presume you'll be on time for today?"

"Good bye Ethan!"

"Later."

"Oh-hey Ethan!"

"Make up your mind Dr. O-take me or leave me."

"…Did you just quote Rent?"

"…You know what Rent _is_?!"

"Never mind. Just wanted to say, I was thinking about it yesterday, and maybe we should tell Connor and Kira today. Before class." Ethan thought about this.

"That doesn't seem like a bad idea. Then we don't have to worry about it. And Kira already knows, and Connor wouldn't try to kill her when he finds out as he knows not to run in the lab. At least, I hope he knows that…"

"Ethan, we're talking about _Connor_." Ethan was about to agree, but Tommy said "Do you really think _Connor_ would hold a grudge at _Kira_?" Ethan was shocked.

"Wait-you noticed it too?!"

Tommy scoffed. "Who hasn't? One more thing...we should be extra nice to Trent, don't you think?"

"For sure," Ethan agreed.

"Good," said Tommy, relieved. "Now, get out."

"Gotcha."

Ethan left and was entering the stairwell when he ran into Trent. Or rather, he almost flattened him by swinging the door open too quickly.

_Why is this door so much lighter than the first? You'd think they'd fix up this part of the school when they remodeled the rest of it. Not that I'm complaining…I'd rather have the nice lunchroom and the teachers have crappy little offices with kids climbing through the walls to install satellite TV._

"Oh. Hey Trent! How was the rest of your weekend?"

_I didn't actually hit him with the door, did I? He looks like I hit him with the door…_

"Uh, fine. Caught up on science," he stuttered. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to see for myself this office of Dr. O's. Trust me, it ain't all that grand. And if you don't see him right away through the piles of crap, just yell. He'll find you. It was _creepy_. And here I thought _you_ were the chameleon."

"Um, ok. Good seeing you, I guess," Trent said inconvincibly.

"You too! See you in class!" he said cheerfully, and he walked down the stairs to the second floor where the science lab was. Only, there was no door to the second floor.

_Are you kidding me? These stairs are strictly for the sole purpose of going from the first to the third floor? So if Dr. O. wants to go to his office after class, he has to go downstairs, then up again. Ridiculous. Who planned the building design anyway? I should have a word with them. It seems like the ventilation ducts have been getting smaller since freshmen year…_

_Wait a minute. He wanted to tell Connor before class? But, he won't be there before class! Ugh. No wonder he wanted me out of there. He doesn't want to tell him himself! What a wimp, Dr. O…What. A. Wimp._


	25. Chapter 25: The Secretary

Thanks Jeremy Shane, Red shadow Ranger, and Pink Ranger V for reviewing!!

**CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE: THE SECRETARY**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 9 2004  
7:15

_I hate kids.  
And school.  
I like Randall, but only because she hates kids.  
And school.  
And it's nice from time to time to know that there's someone in the building more hated than me or that annoying Cornell girl. Hey, there's that James boy. I haven't seen him here this early in a while now. Not since he started hanging out with that soccer jock and yellow singing girl, and going on so many extra credit trips with that science doctor._

_Ugh I need a new job._

_And there's the good doctor himself. He's awfully early today. He shouldn't be here for another hour, and that's even AFTER the first bell rings. I'm amazed Randall hasn't sacked him yet. I know she knows. Principals always think they're being sneaky, but they kind of suck at it. She kind of sucks at her job now that I think about it. Doctor Tardy would have been gone by Labor Day if Principal Durst was still around. But noooo, she's got to go to some prestigious boarding school after only a year here. I liked her too. Adults now a days are scared of teenagers. It shouldn't be that way. There was a day when us school officials were admired and feared at the same time, not laughed at when the little weasels are spit balling us from the second floor windows on our way to the parking lot.  
That reminds me, I need to tell Randall about what soccer jock's defenders were doing last week up in the human anatomy lab..._

_And there's that new kid. Suarez? Sanchez? Hernandez? Fernandez, that's the one! I'm amazed I even came close the first three times…  
I feel sorry for that boy. He's too old on the inside compared to his actual age. He's had to grow up too fast. No real parents, transfer in the middle of the year, workaholic adoptive father. He looks downright depressed. Better than last week though when he practically growled every time he walked past the office._

_You know, maybe that Dino Dude will attack today and crush the building…hopefully! But in case I don't get the chance, I better at least be nice to him, seen as his rainbow friends seem to have abandoned him…_

"Good morning Mr. Fernandez!"


	26. Chapter 26: Connor

Thanks Yellow Princess, Jeremy Shane, Pink Ranger V, Red shadow Ranger, and -WC-PR-POTF-F29D- for reviewing!! That's the most reviews I've gotten for a chapter so far and I'm super excited!!! (it's the little things in life that bring me joy)  
I'm FINALLY back to Connor and Kira's POV. Enjoy!!

**CHAPTER TWENTY SIX: CONNOR**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 9 2004  
7:55 AM

Connor pulled into his usual parking spot in the senior lot of Reefside High. Just as he slammed his door shut, he heard his name being called.

"Hey! McConnor!"

He looked towards where the yell had come from, but all he saw was a yellow school bus_. Great. Now buses talk. As if Reefside isn't screwed up enough already._

"Yo, look up."

_Huh?_

He looked up to see his fellow forward, Nate, half hanging out of the back window of the bus.

_Oh joy…_

"Dude," he said tiredly. "Too early for your mind games."

"Just keeping you on your toes!" Nate replied cheerfully. "We're unloading-hang on a sec."

_Unloading? How about if the bus just swallows you? Then I don't have to hear you go on about stupid shit._ He waited until he got off. Nate looked at him sideways as they walked across the lot.

"So…how was your weekend?" _Here we go…_

"Fine. How was yours?"

"Just fine, thank you. So…nothing interesting happened with you? Nothing at all?" _Here it comes…_

"Nope. Pretty tame."

"Huh. So…what did you do with your Friday night?" _And cue the stupid shit._

"You know what I did," Connor replied, rolling his eyes as they made their way past the front office. "You gave me crap about it for two days."

"Watch your language!" came a voice from the office window.

"Sorry," Connor replied automatically.

"Man," Nate muttered as they rounded the corner. "That secretary is _nasty_. Me and Vince and Sully got six Friday detentions after she ratted on us to Randall. _Six_!"

"What'd you do?" Connor tried to keep him from changing the subject again.

"Nothing. Just hanging out in the human anatomy lab."

"What were you doing in the human anatomy lab?" Connor asked, although he knew exactly what his teammates were doing.

"Don't worry about it man," Nate said smiling.

_I'm the captain. It's my job to worry about you bozos. You'll be worrying too when you get your perverted ass kicked off the team._

"So…how was the baby sitter-I mean, the _kids_ that you were baby-sitting?" Nate asked with fake curiosity, his grin practically wrapping around the back of his head.

_Mucho perverted smartass_.

The warning bell rang before he had a chance to answer.

_Thank you God! You have now overtaken Mesogog as the guy I can count on for a decent distraction!_

Nate ignored the bell. "So…did you get bored and play twenty questions and you finally found out why she wears yellow all the time?"

"Gotta go dude. Don't wanna screw up my perfect attendance record."

Nate ignored him too. "Why _do_ you suppose she wears so much yellow?" he stopped walking suddenly, and a kid who Connor recognized as being in Kira's band, and in their science class, rammed into him. "Haha! Hey-if you two get together, we could call you McDonald's!" Nate cracked up.

Connor managed to smile apologetically as the kid hurried past.

"McDonald's is bad for you. Don't you ever watch the news? And what's wrong with yellow?" he replied, before ducking into the science room. Before he even had a chance to sit down in his seat next to Kira, his phone buzzed.

**wahtever man. so u didn't hook up wit her???**

_Grr!!!_ He checked to make sure Kira wasn't looking, as she liked to do to annoy him, but she was looking confused at something Ethan said.

**good luck on ur english test. u fail this 1, ure out next weekend. and stop saying 'so'!**

_I so don't need this right now. Gah! Stupid 'so'!_

He looked up to ask Ethan what they were supposed to have reviewed that weekend, but Ethan was already staring at him, grinning like a crazy person.

_Whoa._

"Who let you out of the asylum?"

"Please don't kill me!" Ethan blurted suddenly, grabbing a folder and shielding his face.

Kira shook her head.

Connor stared at him.

"Uh…ok…I won't kill you." Ethan looked relieved and lowered his folder. "Besides, I'm not the evil one."

Kira stiffened and Ethan made a panicky noise and hastily lifted the folder again.

"Dude. Did you just…squeak?"

"Tres nah avul!"

"No, seriously-_asylum_."

"He's being weird," Kira said, her jaw hardly moving.

"Hmp?" _Wow. Real smooth_.

Kira opened her mouth to say something, but a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her across the room. Connor recognized him as the kid who had run into Nate as he said quickly "Sorry. Band meeting" to Ethan and Connor.

"Have…fun?" Connor tried. _Yeah, totally smooth. Way to go_. "Whatever. Anyway, what's going on Ethan?"

"Tres nah aval!"

"Yeah, I got that. Unfortunately, you're going to have to ask Kira for the translation. She's the one in French."

Ethan composed himself and closed his eyes, then said "Trent's. Not. Evil."

Connor didn't say anything for a moment.

The tardy bell rang.

"Eh?" he finally managed. Ethan opened one eye, then the other, realized Connor wasn't attacking him, and he visibly relaxed.

"Trent, not evil, long story." He explained, waving his hand like it wasn't a big deal. "So, did you study for the pop quiz that's tomorrow?"

"Trent's…not…evil…" Connor said slowly.

"Yup. I mean-nope. I mean-you know what I mean! Hey look- there's Dr. O! Late again," he added.

Kira came back over and sat down. "Speaking of late," she said to Ethan. "You're awfully early today."

"Oh shut up."

_Trent's. Not. Evil._

…

_Riiiiight…and I'm a blue._

He looked up as Dr. O came into the room, followed by apparently-not-evil-anymore-Trent. As he got a better look at Trent however, he did seem different. Trent sat in his seat and smiled meekly at Connor before giving a quick wave to Ethan-who still looked scared for his life-and looking away.

_ZOMG. He didn't snarl. Wait a minute…_

"Pop quiz?!"

Tommy had been looking down at his grade book taking attendance when Connor's outburst surprised him. His head shot up.

_Oh. Right. Pop quiz. Supposed to be a surprise...oops…_

"Well, not anymore," Tommy said, raising an eyebrow. Connor immediately tried to look innocent and he pointed across the table accusingly at Ethan, who squeaked again and picked up another folder to shield himself from Tommy's death glare.

Kira looked between the three of them. "If you ask me, you've all gone nuts."

**This chapter dedicated to the teachers who are totally awesome, except for when you piss them off and they give you a "death glare" (i.e.: Mr. Heck. *involuntary shudder*)**


	27. Chapter 27: Kira

Thanks to -WC-PR-POTF-F29D-, PinkRangerV, Jeremy Shane, Red shadow Ranger, TwinkieTUTUS, YellowPrincess for reviewing!!

**CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN: KIRA**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 9 2004  
7:55 AM

"Kiiiiiraaaaa!!!!"

_Aaaand I'm deaf._

Kira's friend Marty was running across the front lawn of Reefside High, her long black hair flying behind her for a few feet, then swishing around her as she skidded to a walking pace next to Kira.

"Hey Marty. I take it you've had your caffeine fix already."

"Caffeine schmaffeine," Marty said, rolling her eyes as they entered the building and passed the front office. "Let's cut the formalities and skip to the good crap."

"Alexandria Martin!" a voice rang out from the office window.

"My bad Mrs. Pent!" Marty called over her shoulder to the secretary, as they rounded the corner. "I really wish she would stop calling me _Alexandria_." She said her first name like it was a horrible disease. "She only does that to piss me off you know."

"Marty, how is it you're on good terms with one of the most grouchy women in all of history?" Kira asked incredulously, but also staying away from the topic that she knew Marty was going to jump on in a moment.

_Maybe if I just keep her talking for a few minutes before she has to run up to English…_

Marty shrugged as they walked down the science hall. "I dunno. I'm just a likable person. So, how was your weekend?"

_Oh, here we go…_

"It was alright. How was yours?"

"Pretty good, thanks. So, what did you do?"

_Here it comes…_

"Enh…homework, relaxed, a bit of random strumming, baby-sitting-"

"Oh _right_!" Marty exclaimed, feigning surprise. "I _forgot_ you were baby-sitting! With…Connor McKnight, no?"

_And here it is…the ramblings of a teenage girl who wants to know all the juicy details of what it was like spending a Friday night with Connor McKnight. If only she knew how bad the boy smells after Elsa has had her way with him._

"So, how'd it go?" she asked suggestively.

"Insane," Kira said bluntly. "You've met those kids."

Marty opened her mouth again, but Ethan jumped out of the science room in front of them. "Hey girls! Kira, you got a minute?"

_Thank you Ethan! You have now overtaken Mesogog as the guy I can count on for a decent distraction! Not that I'd ever needed it before or anything…_

"Oh, right! I forgot! Those notes you wanted to copy! Sorry, Eth, I forgot till just now. We could probably get it done before Dr. O gets here."

_Please Ethan, just go along with it!!_

To her surprise, Ethan didn't miss a beat. "Yep. And with our science teacher's history, we should have enough time for a nap afterwards."

"Well, later Mart! Good luck on that English test!"

"Good luck on your English test!" Marty mimicked her. "This discussion so isn't over girlfriend."

"Discussion? Seemed more like an ambush to me," Kira muttered before ducking into the room. As she followed Ethan to their table, her phone buzzed.

_I swear that girl's phone is an added appendage._

**Whatever gurl. So u 2 didn't hook up?? Shame, really…**

_Oh you've gotta be kidding me._

**GO 2 CLASS MARTY!!!!!!!!**

_I'm begging you! I don't need this! I know it's a shame, don't remind me!_

**:-P**

_Yeah yeah yeah. You're sooo funny…_

"Kira? If you don't mind…"

" What's up Ethan? Thanks for that by the way. I owe you one."

"More than _one_, actually."

_Huh?_

"Is there anything you want to tell me?"

Kira racked her brain. "Um…no?"

"Are you sure? You don't sound sure."

"No I'm…I'm sure…why?"

"Just wondering. There's nothing about a certain _boy_ you want to tell me?"

Kira's heart skipped a beat. Literally.

_Crap. How does he know about that? He can't know about that! Nothing even happened! Well, I don't _think_ anything happened…_

_**FLASHBACK  
AUTHOR'S POV**_

"Kira. Kira, wake up." Connor was gently shaking Kira's shoulder, trying to wake her. "Kira, we're at your house."

Kira stirred and turned her head away from him. "Not now I'm sleeping," she mumbled.

Connor chuckled to himself. "I know. That's why I'm trying to wake you."

"Mm?"

"We're back in Reefside, at your house," Connor explained to her. "You have to wake up. You know, I was kidding when I said I'd leave you in the garage."

"Huh? Oh!" Her eyes snapped open and she sat up. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"That's what I've been trying to do! Geez," Connor said jokingly.

"Oh. Right. So, uh…thanks for…driving…"

"Yeah! No prob. Um, my pleasure. Great family you have."

Kira turned to stare at him. "Are you insane? Because _they_ are."

"Ok, yeah they are."

A slightly awkward silence ensued.

"So…" Connor started, but didn't know what to say.

"So…" Kira copied. "See you…Monday?"

"Yeah, uh, Monday," Connor stuttered. "If, you know, nothing goes down this weekend."

"Right. Uh, bye." She went to unbuckle the seat belt, but it wasn't coming undone.

"Oh, hey, it does that. Here, let me get it." He hastily reached over and his hand landed on top of hers. They both pulled away quickly. Connor looked up at her, to find her already staring at him.

"What?"

Kira shook her head. "Nothing. Never mind. Seatbelt?"

"Right. Right, seatbelt. Sorry. Forgot," Connor fumbled with the clasp, before jiggling it and pulling it open. "Um, Eric got gum stuck in it once…never been the same since." Connor realized he was rambling. "Yeah…"

He hadn't pulled away, and neither had Kira. They were leaning in towards each other, when Connor suddenly pulled back.

"I-Sorr. See you Monday…"

_**END FLASHBACK  
KIRA'S POV**_

_I mean, something definitely happened, it just…didn't…yeah…_

"Nothing about a certain ranger? A _white_ ranger?"

_Huh? WHITE ranger? Why would I-oh no._

"Ooohh…" Kira said, realization dawning on her. "Trent…right…uh, so you found out?"

"Yeah. From the good man himself. Emphasis on _good_."

"Ok so he's good and I forgot to tell you. My bad. I've had things on my mind other than Trent."

Ethan looked like she'd hit him in the face with a microscope. "You do?"

_What the heck is that supposed to mean?_

"Well, yeah."

"Ok, never mind that for a minute," Ethan said. "How long have you known that Trent doesn't want to kill us?"

"Since he left last weekend," Kira said.

"Wrong!" proclaimed Ethan. "Well, right, I guess. But he didn't leave! I mean, he left, but he was here the whole time."

"Riiight…"

"I mean, he attacked us on Friday."

"What?" There hadn't been any monster attacks since Friday, and Friday was actually the first attack since Trent had left, so Kira hadn't spent a lot of time talking to the guys about this.

"How could he attack you? He was in Nevada."

"Exactly!"

"I do _not_ understand you…"

"He's a CLONE!" Ethan yelled, standing up. He looked around and saw that the few people in the room were looking at him, including Kira's band friend Jack. "What?" he said to the small crowd. "You haven't heard? The sheep? Geez. Don't you people watch the news?"

The other students ignored him and went back to whatever they were doing before his random outburst about cloned sheep rudely interrupted them.

"Eth, you ok?" Kira asked, legitimately worried about Ethan's sanity.

Connor walked in just then, furiously texting someone. Kira would have made a point to look over his shoulder to see what he was typing, but Ethan was acting a little too crazy at the moment. He had looked away from her, and was sitting straight up in his seat, grinning like mad at Connor. Connor finally flipped his phone shut and looked up to see Ethan staring bizarrely at him.

"Who let you out of the asylum?" Connor asked him.

"Please don't kill me!" Ethan blurted suddenly, grabbing a folder and shielding his face.

_Oh brother_. Kira thought, shaking her head. _I guess Connor doesn't know yet either. Wait, how did Ethan know that I knew? He's obviously expecting Connor to kill him, but not me? What's up with that? Ugh. Boys._

"Uh…ok…I won't kill you." Connor said, confused. "Besides, I'm not the evil one."

_Uh oh_. Kira stiffened as Ethan actually squeaked and lifted the folder again.

"Dude. Did you just…squeak?"

"Tres nah avul!"

"No, seriously-_asylum_."

"He's being weird," Kira said stiffly.

"Hmp?" Connor said, looking at her.

_Oh geez he's hot… No! Stop it Kira! Stop looking at the cute boy! …The REALLY cute boy…_

Kira opened her mouth to say something, but a hand grabbed her arm and started to pull her across the room. "Sorry. Band meeting" she heard Jack's voice say.

"What band meeting? What band? You and me? Oh yeah we'll get a ton done by ourselves-"

"He likes you," Jack cut her off.

"I-who? Huh?"

"Remember last week when Dria was drilling you about why he was baby-sitting with you-"

"Because neither of you would," Kira muttered. Jack ignored her.

"-and you were talking about crushes and gross girl what-not like that?"

"Yes I remember. I was there. You, however, were not. How do you know this?"

"I was there, you just couldn't see me. Anyway," he continued, ignoring Kira's glare. "Dria asked you something about how cute he is and you absent mindedly agreed then she said something about her finding out for you and you bit her head off, remember that?"

"I did not bite her head off," Kira said defensively.

"You would have if the sprinklers hadn't gone off. You should probably thank Ethan for that by the way. Otherwise Randall would have expelled you. I'm pretty sure there's a rule against biting off other students heads," Jack said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, tell that to the psycho dino trying to extinct us," Kira muttered.

"Anyway, don't worry about Dria asking the soccer team embarrassing questions, 'cause I was walking behind him and Nate and he totally likes you," Jack finished, seeming very proud of himself.

Kira just stared at him before coming to her senses and deciding to play it oblivious.

"Whatever. And she hates being called by her first name."

"Hey, my dad is a southern gentleman. He said it's impolite to refer to a lady by her last name," Jack replied with dignity.

"A lady? Seriously? Where's your head been all of these years you've known her? And it's not a last name, it's a nick name. Where did you get Dria from anyhow?"

"Alexan_dria_. Duh. And stop trying to change the subject!" The tardy bell rang.

"Well, I must be going. I don't want to mess up my perfect attendance record."

"Dr. O isn't even here yet," Jack said looking at the clock. Just then, Tommy walked in, followed by Trent.

"Uh-huh. If you say so. See you later. Don't be late this time!"

"You guys were an hour early!"

Kira went back to her seat at the table, where Ethan was trying to justify something to Connor.

"Yup. I mean-nope. I mean-you know what I mean! Hey look- there's Dr. O! Late again."

"Speaking of late," Kira said to him. "You're awfully early today."

"Oh shut up," Ethan replied, sticking out his tongue.

"Real mature blue man."

Connor had been looking intensely at the front of the room, when suddenly he turned back to Ethan.

"Pop quiz?!"

_Wow. Real smooth. Way to go McStupid. Hang on, what pop quiz? How the heck does he know there's going to be a pop quiz? He can't read minds now, can he? Oh that would be so bad… And here I thought it was bad that Ethan always seems to know what everyone is thinking._

Tommy had been looking down at his grade book taking attendance when Connor's outburst surprised him. His head shot up. "Well, not anymore," he said, raising an eyebrow. Connor immediately tried to look innocent and he pointed accusingly across the table at Ethan, who squeaked again and picked up another folder to shield himself from Tommy's death glare.

Kira looked between the three of them. "If you ask me, you've all gone nuts."

"Oh please. Like you hadn't noticed before?" Cassidy chimed in. "They've been nuts since they were born."

"Have not!" said Ethan. "Who asked you anyway?"

"I did," said Kira, sticking her tongue out at him.

_Payback's a bitch._


	28. Chapter 28: Connor

**CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT: CONNOR**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 9 2004  
11:50 AM

The 11:50 bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period. The history teacher, Ms. Jenson, turned off the projector and flipped the lights on, awakening several students and causing a few more to groan. "That's it for today. Remember, your paper for me on the Third Servile War is due next week. And part two on comradery for Dr. Bob's sociology class is due the Thursday after."

"Man, that was _intense_," Nate said to Connor and Sully as they left the room. "And here I named my dog after that guy. Sure hope he doesn't have the same fate…Nice friends though," he added as an afterthought.

"Little Sparky's full name is Spartacus?" Sully asked surprised.

"Yep," Nate said fondly.

"But…he's a _Chihuahua," _Connor said.

"So?" Nate said, getting defensive.

"You named your Chihuahua _Spartacus_?"

"Yeah. What's the big deal?"

"Nothing!" Connor said quickly. "It's just…a Chihuahua named Spartacus…It seems like you'd call a pit bull Spartacus or something."

"Well, we did have a pit bull named Spartacus. Man I loved that guy…" Nate said reminiscing.

"Oh. What happened to him?"

"You know that chunk of my leg that's a different color?"

_Oh no..._

"Yeah..."

"Spartacus's doing."

"Uh…"

"Yep. Mom got rid of him and got a Chihuahua. I made her let me name him. She was _pissed_ when I told her I wanted to name him Spartacus too, so she started calling him Sparky," Nate said matter-of-factly.

"Nice story," said Sully. "But unless Chihuahua is on the menu, can we please go get lunch? I'm parched."

"Sully," Nate said. "Do you know what parched means?"

Sully stood up straight and lifted his finger in the air, as though he was about to teach a very important lesson. "Parched. To make extremely, excessively, or completely dry, as heat, sun, and wind do."

"Ok, so you can rattle off a definition," Connor said rolling his eyes. "But you used it in the wrong context."

"What's a context?"

Nate burst out laughing. "What, that's not on your list of vocab words?"

"No. _Duh_," Sully replied as the approached the library.

"Right, well, this is where I'm headed," Connor told them.

"The library?" Nate asked, amazed. "Why the hell are you going there?"

"Finishing up a project I started this weekend."

"Oh. Have you even been in there before?"

"Of course I have. Why, haven't you?"

Nate and Sully looked at each other. "No," they said together.

"And you wonder why you're getting straight D's…"

"Better than last semester," Nate said.

"Oh yeah, when you couldn't play every other game because of your grades?" Connor said sarcastically. Then he remembered something. "How'd that English test go by the way?"

"Fear not, oh worried leader! I got a C minus, thank you very much."

"Good. Trevor broke his foot. He's out the rest of the season. If you screw up, we're all screwed," Connor explained, pushing open the library door.

"_What_?!" Nate exclaimed. "You couldn't have told me that _before_ the test?! I would've tried for a C _plus_!"

_Oh brother._

"Later boneheads."

"See ya McConnor."

"Adios!"

"Sully," Connor heard Nate say as they walked away. "Do you know what 'adios' means?"

Connor shook his head as he walked towards the audio-visual section. He went to the A's and started browsing the shelves.

_A…A…A-n…A-n…A-n-i...now we're getting somewhere…A-n-i-m…Ah! Here it is!_

"Connor?" said a surprised voice behind him.

He spun around. "Kira! What are you doing here?!"

_What do you _think_ she's doing here? It's the school library! Dumbass._

Kira lifted the CD she was holding.

"Oh," Connor said sheepishly. "Right. This is a library."

Kira smiled. "Very good. And what's the room called that we eat in?"

"Ha ha very funny."

"Sorry," Kira said, walking over to a nearby table and leaning against it. "So what are you here for?"

_Um…_

"Just looking for a movie."

"Cool. What movie?"

"Just something about music for my Gen Ed Arts class."

_Not a complete lie. We did learn about it once in that class and Mrs. Bobis said that the video was here if we wanted to check it out. And I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who has checked this out lately._

"Gen Ed Arts," Kira said thoughtfully, as Connor walked over to stand next to her so the librarian wouldn't overhear and kick them out for talking too loud. "Fun class?"

"Nope," he replied without hesitation.

"Didn't think so."

"Hey Kira?"

"Yeah?"

"What's up with your shoulder?"

He thought he saw something in her eyes flashed before she sighed. "Cormac can't cook."

"Well, I could've figured. He's nine."

"No, I mean he _can't_ cook. It's against the rules. Should probably be against the law, now that I think about it."

"So, he hurt your shoulder by cooking?" Connor asked, confused.

"No, he hurt my shoulder wielding a rolling pin while he was cooking."

He gaped at her. "Oh. Ow?"

"Very much. Of course, it didn't help that Zeltrax dislocated it the next day," Kira rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, he does that," Connor said thoughtfully.

"Well, there's my family for you."

"Hmm. So, what's 'talkwriting'?"

"Oh! I never told you, did I?"

"Hence why I asked."

"Cora made it up. Well, she made up the word. Everybody does it."

"Not helping," Connor smiled.

"Sorry," Kira said. "Um…ok, you know how Cormac's deaf, right?"

"No! I had no idea!"

"Smartass."

_She's so cute when she smiles..._

"Ok, so people will sometimes write things down when they want to tell a deaf person something. Thing is, that's kind of rude. Some aren't totally deaf, so they can still hear, just not as well. A lot can read lips too."

_Lips? Please don't talk about lips! Now I'm going to be staring at yours this whole time..._

"Anyway, it's not impolite if the deaf person writes something down first, or asks you to write something down, so Cormac started carrying a pad of paper and a marker around with him."

Connor leaned back against the table. As he was putting his hands down, one landed on top of Kira's. She glanced sideways at him, but neither of them moved away.

"My, um, grandma...once asked why he was doing that, and Cora said that it was talkwriting. So, it's not even a real word, or any official thing or anything. It's just something a four year-old made up."

_Ah screw it. I'm not really risking anything, right? Well, maybe a friendship…gah! Just do it McKnight!_

He looked her in the eye and leaned in towards her.

"But it is rude to presume, you know, so Cormac only talkwrites with people he likes. That's why I was surprised he did it with you...."

They were so close he could feel her breath on his lips as she talked.

"...I didn't think he liked you. Guess I was wrong..."

"Kira?" Connor whispered. They were so close now, she heard him perfectly.

"Hmm?"

"Do _you_ like me?"

She took a deep breath. "Yeah."

That was all it took for him to softly press his lips to hers…


	29. Chapter 29: Kira

Thanks Red shadow ranger, That Don't Make Me A Bad Guy, Ms. Fairweather, TwinkieTUTUS, and do i need a pen name for reviewing!! And Yellow Princess who was the 100th review. Whoo!

**CHAPTER TWENTY NINE: KIRA**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 9 2004  
11:50 AM

The 11:50 bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period. The sociology teacher, Dr. Bob, turned off the projector and flipped the lights on, awakening several students and causing a few more to groan. "That's it for today. Remember, your paper for Ms. Jenson on the Third Servile War is due next week. And part two for me on comradery is due the Thursday after."

"You mean in two Thursdays, right?" Jack asked as the class filed out.

"Nice try Mr. Marshall. See you all tomorrow!"

"Wow. That was _totally_ what I wanted to see before going to lunch," Marty said sarcastically to Kira and Jack as they left sociology.

"You could always skip lunch," Kira replied.

Jack whipped his head around to look at her, a horrified expression on his face. "It's Muchie Monday! You can't miss Munchie Monday!"

"Calm down," Marty said rolling her eyes. "I'm not about to miss Munchie Monday. Duh. You're not even in our lunch period!" she added.

"So? Just saying. And I'd also like to say that it's so not cool I have to sit through history before the munchiness ensues."

"Go to class, Jack," Marty said, gently shoving him towards the nearby history classroom.

"Fine. Geez. See you guys after school!"

"Don't be late!" they both yelled back at him.

"Besides," Marty said as they stopped outside the library. "I've avoided this place for three and a half years. I'm not about to break that streak."

"Alright. Your loss."

"My loss? How is it a loss to spend my lunch period in the library? What do you have to do there anyway?"

_I have to avoid a certain boy for the rest of my life._

"I have a CD that's ridiculously overdue."

"Then lunch?"

"No pass."

"Get one."

"Too late."

"Go back."

"No thanks."

"Kira."

"Marty."

They both looked at the library door, then Kira said "Ok, I'm out of two syllable responses..."

"Yeah me too."

"Jack would be ashamed."

"Indeed."

"You win."

"Go me!" Marty did a little shimmy victory dance. "See ya later girl."

"Don't be late!" They both said.

Kira opened the library door and walked in, searching in her bag for her CD as she walked towards the return box just past the audio visual section.

_Ah the library. The place where a girl can think. And, you know, return overdue stuff. And there's absolutely no chance at all of me running into..._

"Connor?"

_...What.  
__The.  
__Hell._

He spun around. "Kira! What are you doing here?!"

She bewilderdly lifted the CD she was holding.

"Oh," Connor said, sounding nervous. "Right. This is a library."

_Wow. If I didn't know any better, I so wouldn't pin you as the red ranger. No offense.  
Um, he can't hear you Kira...  
Great I'm totally having a conversation with myself.  
Grr. It. Is. Just. A. Crush!_

"Very good. And what's the room called that we eat in?"

"Ha ha very funny."

"Sorry," _Alright, stay calm._ She walked over to a nearby table and leaned against it. "So what are you here for?" _Wait, why am I starting a conversation?! This so isn't going to end well..._

_When does it ever end well?! Never! That's when!_

"Just looking for a movie."

"Cool. What movie?"

"Just something about music from my Gen Ed Arts class."

"Gen Ed Arts," Kira said thoughtfully, as Connor walked over to stand next to her so the librarian wouldn't overhear and kick them out for talking too loud. "Fun class?"

"Nope," he replied right away.

"Didn't think so."

"Hey Kira?"

"Yeah?"

"What's up with your shoulder?"

_Oh yeah, the shoulder.  
The one he seemed so concerned about the other night.  
Because he freaking LIKES you.  
Thanks Marty.  
This is just GREAT._

"Cormac can't cook."

"Well, I could've figured. He's nine."

"No, I mean he _can't_ cook. It's against the rules. Should probably be against the law, now that I think about it."

"So, he hurt your shoulder by cooking?"

_He's still cute when he's confused._

"No, he hurt my shoulder wielding a rolling pin while he was cooking."

His mouth hung open for a moment. "Oh. Ow?" he asked.

"Very much. Of course, it didn't help that Zeltrax dislocated it the next day." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, he does that," Connor said thoughtfully.

"Well, there's my family for you."

"Hmm. So, what's 'talkwriting'?"

"Oh! I never told you, did I?"

"Hence why I asked."

_Smartass._

"Cora made it up. Well, she made up the word. Everybody does it."

"Not helping," Connor smiled.

_Agh don't smile at me! I can't think straight when you smile at me!_

"Sorry. Um…ok, you know how Cormac's deaf, right?"

"No! I had no idea!"

"Smartass."

"Ok, so people will sometimes write things down when they want to tell a deaf person something. Thing is, that's kind of rude. Some aren't totally deaf, so they can still hear, just not as well. A lot can read lips too. Anyway, it's not impolite if the deaf person writes something down first, or asks you to write something down, so Cormac started carrying a pad of paper and a marker around with him."

Connor leaned back against the table. One of his hands landed on top of Kira's. She glanced sideways at him, but neither of them moved away.

"My, um, grandma...once asked why he was doing that, and Cora said that it was talkwriting. So, it's not even a real word, or any official thing or anything. It's just something a four year-old made up."

Connor was slowly leaning towards her.

_Maybe I should tell him...I'm already babbling like crazy..._

"But it is rude to presume, you know, so Cormac only talkwrites with people he likes. That's why I was surprised he did it with you...."

They were so close, her lips were practically brushing against his as she spoke.

_I should tell him…_

"...I didn't think he liked you. Guess I was wrong..."

"Kira?"

_Oh god it is SO sexy when he says my name like that._

"Hmm?"

"Do _you_ like me?"

_Crap. Ok, remember, breathe._ "Yeah."_ Crap crap crap crap crap! Oh my god he's so close..._

He leaned in and softly kissed her...


	30. Chapter 30: Connor & Kira

Happy birthday to me!! And as my gift to you, the second to last chapter. This took, like, a month to write (believe it or not, considering how short it is) so ya'll better like it, or I'm gonna cry on my birthday. And we don't want that, do we now?

**Connor's thoughts. **_Kira's thoughts._

CHAPTER THIRTY: CONNOR AND KIRA

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 9 2004  
12:05 PM

**I have no idea why I'm doing this.  
I mean, I know **_**why**_** I'm doing this, but I don't know WHY I'm doing this.  
Not that I'm complaining…**

_Holy shit._  
_I'm kissing Connor._  
_Connor's kissing me._  
_Holy shit.  
__Not that I'm complaining…_

**I can't believe I just did this.  
I must really be crazy for this girl if I did this.  
Well, I did it, so I must be really crazy.  
I could totally get used to this crazy thing...**

_He's good at this.  
Not that I know what 'good' is, but this is probably as good as it gets.  
It's perfect, actually.  
I could totally get used to this perfection thing..._

Kira heard shuffling behind her, but vaguely registered it.

_Hmm...what's that?_

Connor heard shuffling behind him, but vaguely registered it.

**Hmm…what's that?**

"Whoa."

"Dude."

Connor and Kira suddenly realized they were no longer alone, and jumped apart from each other.

"The school library?" Nate said, looking approvingly between them while Marty snickered. "_Nice._"


	31. Epilogue: Nate & Marty

Don't kill me people, but this is it :-(

**EPILOGUE: NATE AND MARTY**

REEFSIDE  
FEBRUARY 9 2004  
11:57 AM

"Sully," Nate said. "Do you know what 'adios' means?"

"Do I know what it _means_, actually."

"Alright man, so what does it _means_?"

"Hello and goodbye," Sully said matter-of-factly. "One of those double meaning words. It's Hawaiian."

Nate shook his head, smiling amusingly. "No, man…"

"What are you talking about?" Sully stopped outside the cafeteria. "Yes it does."

"What are _you_ talking about?" Nate stopped to face him. "No it doesn't."

"It has to. My nana told me so."

"Well, your nana's wrong."

"Hey-don't diss my nana!"

"Don't misuse 'adios'!"

"I didn't misuse it!"

"Didn't misuse what?" said a girl's voice next to them, causing them both to jump.

"Marty! Where did you come from?"

"Just dropped Kira off at the library. So, what's the fight about today boys?"

"Hey, Marty," Sully said slowly. "You're a girl. You're smart."

Nate shook his head. "You shouldn't've said that man…"

"Zip it Nate," Marty said to him. She smiled sweetly at Sully. "Please continue."

"We need you to tell us who's right."

"Well," Marty said. "If there's a girls in this little convo, then it's probably her."

"Aw man!" Nate said. "That means Sully's right!"

"Shut up. What does 'adios' mean?"

"Beats me. I'm in French, not Spanish."

"Ha!" Nate said triumphantly. "It's not Hawaiian!"

"Not even close," Marty replied. "What moron said it was Hawaiian?"

Nate looked pointedly at Sully, who turned to enter the cafeteria. "I don't have time for this," he said with dignity as he walked towards the line. "There's food that needs to be eaten in here!" Nate shook his head at his retreating back, and Marty rolled her eyes before following him. Nate suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Um. Ow."

"Oh, right, sorry," he let go. "Did you just say Kira's in the _library_?"

"Yep. By the way, the plan totally worked. Jack told her that he 'heard'" she used air quotes. "Connor say he's got the hots for her. Well, not in so many words. Anyway, she's been kinda loopy all day and now she's spending lunch in there. Probably avoiding Connor. And don't tell Jack I told you. He's been planning the most dramatic way possible to relay the story to you. Apparently he was 'brilliant'." She used the air quotes again, rolling her eyes.

Nate just smiled evilly at her.

"What?" Marty asked, instinctively taking a step away from creepy grinning boy.

"_Kira's_ in the _library_."

"Yes. I just said that."

"Kira's in the library, _right now_."

"Ok, if you're not going to start making any sense, I'm going to join Sully," Marty started entering the cafeteria, but what Nate said next made her stop and spin around.

"_Connor's_ in the library."

"What?" she hissed.

"Connor's in the library, _right now_."

They looked at each other.

"This I gotta see!" Marty exclaimed. They turned out of the cafeteria and rushed to the library before the bell rang.

"Alright, where was Connor going?" Marty asked when they got to the library and pushed the double doors open.

"I dunno. Just said he had some project to do."

"Really? We talking about the same Connor?"

"Marty, focus."

"Right. Just checking."

"What about Kira?"

"Returning something."

"Let's go check on her first." Nate took a step, and then stopped. "Uh, where's the return thingamabob?"

Marty rolled her eyes and pushed past him. "On the other side of the audio visual section. Come on."

He followed her around the front desk, past the computers, and under a large banner that mentioned something about how amazingly awesome it is to read, before coming to the audio visual section.

"Ok," Marty said. "The AV return is in the corner behind the shelves with the A's. We're at…M. Guess we gotta keep going."

"So, do you come here often?" Nate asked curiously as they walked past the L's.

"Nope. Never been in here before."

"Oh." Nate was quiet until they reached the C's. "So, how do you know where stuff is?"

"Virtual iTour."

"Ah…that's handy…" Nate said thoughtfully as they came to the A aisle.

"'Kay, here we are," Marty said. "It's just through these shelves and-" She broke off and they both stopped in their tracks.

They had found Kira. And Connor. Together…

Kissing.

More than kissing really. Making out would better describe the scene in front of them.

Connor's arms were wrapped around Kira's waist, and were gradually moving up her back. Kira was standing on her toes, with her fingers tangled in Connor's hair. As Nate and Marty stood there gaping, the scene in front of them was getting more intense, as Connor and Kira pressed their bodies closer together, the kiss getting more and more passionate.

Nate and Marty both smiled evilly, similarly to when they realized Connor and Kira might meet up in the small library. They just weren't expecting a full-blown make-out session behind the shelves of A and B movies.

"Whoa," Marty said.

"Dude!" said Nate

Connor and Kira suddenly realized they were no longer alone, and jumped apart from each other.

Nate looked approvingly at them.

"The school library? _Nice._"


	32. Author's Note

Hello readers of Fifteen Dollars An Hour! Just to let you all know, there is a sequel out now to this story, called Twenty Five Dollars An Hour. Check it out please!!


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